Overview

• UC Irvine researchers report in Cell that glycan-dependent T cell recruiters GlyTR1 and GlyTR2 use lectin-based, Velcro-like binding to tumor-associated carbohydrates.
• In animal and model systems, the compounds eliminated tumors across breast, colon, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate cancers as well as leukemia while sparing normal tissue.
• Density-dependent binding to glycan-rich tumor cells underpins selectivity and aims to avoid on-target, off-tumor toxicity common to some protein-targeted immunotherapies.
• The study shows binding to multiple immunosuppressive TACAs enables activity in suppressive tumor microenvironments, with no toxicity observed in mice engineered for human-like TACA expression.
• Lead candidate GlyTR1 is advancing to clinical-grade production at NCI labs, with a first-in-human study planned pending successful manufacturing and regulatory review.