Immunotherapy, hold the intestinal inflammation; plus Chugai and more
BioCentury’s roundup of translational innovations
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4502; NYSE:TAK) and collaborators at University of Michigan showed in Science that anti-CTLA-4 single-domain antibodies promoted antitumor responses in mice without triggering colitis, owing to the lack of Fc domains.
Laboratory mice are generally resistant to intestinal inflammation following treatment with immune checkpoint-targeted antibodies, so the authors began by creating mice with a gut microbiome derived from wild-caught mice, which developed CTLA-4 blockade-associated colitis. They found that unrestrained activation of IFNγ-producing CD4+ T cells and depletion of peripherally induced regulatory T cells through Fcγ receptor signaling is what drove the inflammation...