New Study Demonstrates Integrin Activation Can Bring the Heat to Cold Melanoma Tumors

Source: Bio Space, May 2022

HOUSTON, May 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — 7 Hills Pharma LLC (“7 Hills” or “7HP”), together with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (“MD Anderson”) and Texas Heart Institute (“THI”), released a new study in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, describing the use of 7HP’s novel integrin activator 7HP349 to convert “cold” or non-immunogenic tumor microenvironments to a “hot,” T cell-enriched state, improving the effectiveness of immune checkpoint blockade. The article, entitled “LFA-1 activation enriches tumor-specific CD8+ T cells in a cold tumor model and synergizes with CTLA-4 blockade,” was published by a team at MD Anderson led by Yared Hailemichael, Ph.D., assistant professor of Melanoma Medical Oncology, with co-authors from 7 Hills and THI.

7HP349 is a member of a family of small molecule integrin activators discovered at the Texas Heart Institute in the laboratories of Dr. Peter Vanderslice, Dr. Ronald J. Biediger, and Dr. Darren G. Woodside. The family of compounds was generated using a rational design approach based on their deep understanding of and relationship between the biology and three-dimensional structure of integrins.

“This landmark publication is the result of years of forward-looking thinking, innovative chemistry, and keen scientific investigation amongst our multidisciplinary teams and with our interinstitutional partners across the Texas Medical Center,” said Dr. Vanderslice. “Our goal is to bring more effective, less toxic immunotherapy treatments to cancer patients, and we are proud to see our unique approach to immune augmentation validated with this publication.”

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