Apr 20, 2022   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Monopteros Therapeutics Announces Two Presentations at the Tumor Immune Microenvironment Workshop of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC)

Monopteros Therapeutics Inc. (“Monopteros”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing MPT-0118, a first-in-class MALT1 inhibitor for the treatment of solid tumors, today announced two presentations at the tumor immune microenvironment workshop of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), to be held in person in San Diego and virtually from April 21-22, 2022. These presentations demonstrate that highly activated immunosuppressive regulatory T cells (Tregs) in solid tumors have the potential to become interferon-gamma-producing effector T cells and that the occurrence of this reprogrammed state increases the clinical response to immune checkpoint therapy in cancer patients. Further, translational nonclinical results for MPT-0118, currently undergoing a phase 1 clinical trial (NCT04859777), are presented.

“We are excited to present these results, which shed light on how a cold, unresponsive, and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment can be modulated to respond to immunotherapy,” said Peter Keller, President and CEO of Monopteros. ”Our clinical candidate MPT-0118 is pioneering the novel mechanism of reprogramming tumor-infiltrating regulatory T cells, which is the key for opening up many cold tumors to immunotherapy.”

Presentation Title: Spontaneous proinflammatory conversion of regulatory T cells (Treg) is associated with improved immune checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) response
Poster Number: 042
Presenter: Kevin Litchfield, PhD, University College of London
Presentation Date and Time: April 21, 5:20 to 6:20 pm PT
Results show that around 4% of Tregs in cancer are spontaneously producing interferon-gamma. This Treg population is associated with a higher probability of response to anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor therapy in cancer patients. We further demonstrate that these reprogrammed Tregs are genetically related to a pool of highly activated PD1 and Lag3 positive Tregs.

Presentation Title: Reprogramming Regulatory T cells (Treg) Using a MALT1 Inhibitor for Cancer Therapy
Poster Number: 037
Presenter: Peter Keller, MSc, Monopteros Therapeutics
Presentation Date and Time: April 21, 5:20 to 6:20 pm PT
This poster was requested for resubmission from SITC’s annual conference in 2021 and presents the data generated with clinical-stage MPT-0118 to reprogram regulatory T cells in mouse and human tissue and its preclinical anti-tumor effects.

Following the conference, the two presentations will be available in the Publications section of Monopteros’ website at www.monopterostx.com.

About Monopteros Therapeutics

Monopteros Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a first-in-class inhibitor of MALT1 protease to reprogram infiltrating regulatory T cells in solid tumors. The company’s first asset, MPT-0118, is a small molecule inhibitor of MALT1 protease.

The company is translating the seminal discoveries regarding destabilization and reprogramming of Tregs made by its founders at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and published in Nature in 20191.

Please see monopterostx.com for more information, and connect with the company on LinkedIn and Twitter.

1 Di Pilato et al.,” Targeting the CBM complex causes Treg cells to prime tumours for immune checkpoint therapy”, doi.org/ 10.1038/s41586-019-1215-2