INOVIQ (ASX: IIQ) has reported superior efficacy from an in vitro study of CAR-exosomes cancer therapy that killed almost 88% of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and lung cancer cells within 96 hours.
Real-time cell analysis demonstrated that CAR-NK-EVs — chimeric antigen receptor natural killer cells derived from extracellular vesicles — exerted a significant cytotoxic effect on TNBC and non-small-cell lung cancer (Calu-3) cells compared to control treatments.
Data from three independent experiments showed that treatment with 2.5 million CAR-NK-EVs resulted in 87.8% cell death in TNBC and Calu-3 cells respectively within four days.
Major success
The in vitro results mark a major success for CAR-exosome therapy, showing it works well against two solid tumours.
It could lead to an ‘off-the-shelf’ therapy produced and purified for quality and shelf life, compared to traditional treatments that must be customised.
CAR-exosomes are reportedly fast to produce, easy to use and more effective than cell therapies such as CAR-T.
Effective treatment
Chief scientific officer Professor Greg Rice said the in vitro studies had proved CAR-exosome therapy could be an effective treatment for aggressive cancers.
“Our exosome therapeutic platform has now been validated, demonstrating its potential to deliver transformative ‘off-the-shelf’ therapies,” he said.
“The platform offers potential cost, safety and efficacy advantages over traditional CAR-T cell therapies and will enable development of targeted therapeutics for multiple cancer types.”
Further studies
Chair David Williams said the result moved the company closer to delivering life-changing treatments for cancer patients.
INOVIQ will now subject CAR-exosome therapy to in vivo studies on mice to see how it performs in living organisms.
Human clinical trials will follow these animal studies.
