Treatment with anti-CD19 bispecific T-cell engager and CAR T therapies can lead to T-cell exhaustion and treatment failure. Novartis AG’s first-in-class anti-CD19, anti-CD3 and anti-CD2 IgG-like trispecific antibody PIT-565, which engages CD19+ on tumor cells, and CD3 (TCR signaling component) and CD2 (a costimulatory receptor) on T cells simultaneously to redirect T-cell cytotoxicity toward CD19-positive malignant B cells, has been designed to avoid T-cell exhaustion.

Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor 3DL3 (KIR3DL3) is a member of the killer cell Ig-like (KIR) receptor family. When KIR3DL3 is expressed on T and natural killer (NK) cells in the tumor microenvironment, it suppresses immune responses following engagement with HHLA2, suggesting that the KIR3DL3-HHLA2 axis potentially represents a novel immune checkpoint pathway and that blockade of KIR3DL3 signaling could promote antitumor immunity.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. has elected to exercise its right to advance a therapeutic antibody candidate, discovered in partnership with Abcellera Biologics Inc. as part of a multitarget collaboration between the companies, into further preclinical development.

Sorrento Therapeutics Inc. has published data on the identification, in vitro binding and neutralizing activity of a novel monoclonal antibody (MAb), STI-5041, against the SARS-CoV-2 WA-1 strain as well as the alpha and beta variants from their G-MAB library screening.

A research consortium comprised of XL-protein GmbH, Wacker Chemie AG and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) will develop a novel long-acting immunosuppressive anti-CD40 antibody fragment for the selective suppression of organ rejection, in particular in the area of cardiac xenotransplantation.

Human endogenous retrovirus-K (HERV-K) belongs to the β-retrovirus-like supergroup of viruses, and it has been previously demonstrated that the expression of HERV-K subtype HML-2 envelope (Env) in human neuronal cultures or in transgenic mice resulted in neurotoxicity and neurodegeneration.

Researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School reported the discovery and preclinical evaluation of SP1-77, a novel humanized monoclonal IgG-κ antibody targeting the receptor-binding-domain (RBD) of spike (S) glycoprotein of all SARS-CoV-2 variants.

A new vaccine that uses the native-like HIV-1 envelope (Env) trimer CH505 and a Toll-like receptor (TLR) 7/8 agonist adjuvant, successfully evaluated in macaques, generated potent polyclonal neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) and a high protection against the infection of the homologous simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV).