Immunitas Therapeutics Announces Cell Publication of Tumor Single Cell Analysis Identifying CD161 as a Therapeutic T and NK Cell Target in Immuno-Oncology

Immunitas Therapeutics (“Immunitas”), a single cell genomics-based drug discovery company, today announced the publication of Inhibitory CD161 Receptor Identified in Glioma-infiltrating T cells by Single Cell Analysis in the journal Cell.

“Using single-cell RNA-sequencing, we were able to chart the gene expression and clonal landscape of tumor-infiltrating T cells across 31 patients with IDH-wildtype glioblastoma and IDH-mutant glioma,” said Kai Wucherpfennig M.D., Ph.D., corresponding author, Professor and Chair of the Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and scientific co-founder of Immunitas Therapeutics. “Our analysis of tumor infiltrating T cells identified the NK gene KLRB1, which encodes the protein CD161, as a candidate inhibitory receptor on both NK and T cells with applicability as a target in cancer immunotherapy. These results highlight the potential of single cell genomics to help us better understand the interactions between immune cells and cancer cells, and to identify new targets for therapeutic intervention in serious and complex diseases.”

The results presented in Cell demonstrate that KLRB1 is expressed by both T and NK cells. Genetic knockout and antibody blockade of CD161 enhanced T cell-mediated killing of cancers cells in vitro, and enhanced T cell anti-tumor function in vivo. Further, KLRB1 and its associated transcriptional program were expressed by substantial T cell populations in multiple human cancers.

“We congratulate our scientific founders on the publication of this seminal scientific paper which highlights not only the potential of single cell RNA sequencing to unravel the interactions between immune cells and cancer cells, but also specifically identifies CD161 as a very promising new target for cancer immunotherapy,” said Tarek Samad, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Immunitas Therapeutics. “We are excited to be working in this area of biology and are moving rapidly toward the clinic to help cancer patients in need of immunotherapy options.”

About Immunitas Therapeutics

Immunitas is an immuno-oncology therapeutics company advancing multiple programs to the clinic. Immunitas’ programs are derived from a cross-functional, highly integrated, single cell genomics platform that enables rapid target identification and validation in parallel with antibody discovery and engineering. IMT-009, a first-in-class T & NK cell modulator targeting CD161, is being developed for the treatment of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. The company was founded with leading scientists from Dana Farber, MGH, the Broad, and MIT. In 2019, Immunitas raised a $39M Series A from a strong syndicate of investors including the Longwood Fund, Hillhouse, NVF, Leaps by Bayer, and M Ventures.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210217005176/en/