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By Jeremy Golden, Benzinga
Approximately two million people were diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. in 2023, with breast, prostate, lung and bronchus cancers among the most common. An estimated 609,820 people died of cancer last year.
The most common treatments are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, though other options include targeted therapy as well as laser and hormonal therapies. Another treatment option is immunotherapy, which is designed to utilize the immune system to fight cancer. Immune responses are orchestrated by key immune cells in the lymph nodes, but for many therapies, getting to these critical sites is far from certain.
Small molecule-based immunomodulators easily pass through the blood vessel walls at the injection site. As a result, they are rapidly flushed away into the systemic circulation, limiting access to the lymph nodes. Often, this results in a failure to realize the full potential of the immune response. Worse yet, it can lead to the development of dangerous toxicities at other sites in the body.
Elicio Therapeutics’ Novel Approach
Founded in 2011, Elicio Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELTX) is developing treatment options aimed at significantly improving the quality of life for cancer patients through the utilization of precision vaccines, immunomodulators and cell-based therapies to potentially assemble cancer-killing immune responses against solid tumors.
The company is optimistic about the potential of lymph node-targeting made possible by applying the natural trafficking pathways of larger molecules. This approach differentiates Elicio from its competitors and could be highly promising for enhancing anti-tumor immune responses and improving therapeutic efficacy.
Developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the company’s proprietary Amphiphile or “AMP” platform, which combines expertise in materials science and immunology, is being used to develop novel immunotherapies, including cell therapy activators, immunomodulators, adjuvants and vaccines for an array of aggressive cancers and infectious diseases.
Here’s how it works:
The AMP platform is designed to deliver therapeutic payloads directly to critical immune cells in the lymph nodes, enhancing the cancer-fighting mechanisms of the immune system. By delivering cancer immunotherapies to the center of the immune response, this approach is intended to optimize the natural ability of the lymph nodes to educate, activate and amplify cancer-specific T cells.
Engineered to coordinate immunity in these uniquely potent sites, the AMP platform was built to amplify the magnitude, potency, quality and durability of the immune response to drive antitumor activity.
At the injection site, the platform prevents detrimental payload delivery to systemic circulation, instead guiding the payloads into the lymphatics to promote lymph node delivery. Additionally, it preserves the structural integrity and activity of payloads by preventing any degradation prior to uptake by lymph node resident immune cells.
Upon reaching the lymph nodes, the platform optimizes retention and directs the delivery of payloads to key immune cells responsible for the coordination of immune responses, specifically the activation and amplification of cancer-specific immune cells in lymph nodes.
Overall, Elicio Therapeutics anticipates that the AMP platform could potentially provide a better quality of life to patients during treatment. The strategy is set apart from other treatments by its ability to activate immune mechanisms directly in the lymph nodes. Enhanced T cell infiltration into tumors, improved T cell expansion and persistence, potent anti-tumor T cell function and wide breadth of response are key attributes with the potential to improve efficacy and reduce the risk of resistance to therapy.
Moving forward, Elicio Therapeutics is committed to developing its lymph node-targeting approach for deployment across a range of vaccines, immunomodulators and adjuvants — training the immune system to put the best cells forward to fight a broad spectrum of cancers.
Featured photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash.
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