Atreca Announces Presentation Of Preclinical Data For Cancer Immunotherapy Program

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Atreca, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapeutics based on a deep understanding of the human immune response, announced today positive preclinical findings generated using the Company’s Immune Repertoire Capture™ technology, presented at the Keystone Symposia Conference “Antibodies as Drugs”, which took place in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, March 6-10, 2016. Atreca’s programs are advancing multiple therapeutic agents that have shown they can enhance elimination of cancer cells, based on the analysis of successful anti-tumor responses in patients.

“Our technology allows Atreca to mine the key phenomenon driving efficacious anti-cancer immune responses—a patient’s own anti-tumor immunity—with the goal of using this knowledge to help other patients fight their disease.”

In a poster titled, “Expanded IgG Lineages in Lung Cancer Non-Progressors Reveal Anti-Tumor Antibodies” (Abstract No. X2 1014), a research team of scientists at Atreca and collaborators at leading institutions reported key preclinical research findings, including:

• Immune Repertoire Capture™ technology generated the sequences of native antibodies from the active immune response of an individual with Stage 4 lung adenocarcinoma who had experienced long-term non-progression of disease.
• Several of these antibodies have been shown to bind tumor tissue but not normal tissue, and some bind multiple tumor types beyond the cancer type of the original patient from which the antibodies were discovered.
• Select antibodies demonstrated they can destroy tumor cells, as measured by antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) in in vitro assays.

Daniel Emerling, Ph.D., Atreca’s Senior Vice President, Research, stated, “By analyzing blood samples from one patient at the single cell level using Atreca’s Immune Repertoire Capture™ platform, we identified thousands of antibodies and were able to generate natively paired antibody heavy and light chain sequences from blood plasmablasts, which are activated B cells that play a critical role in immune responses. Analysis of these antibody sequences allowed us to select and express functional antibodies for further analysis. Multiple patient-derived antibodies were found to bind cells from multiple tumor types, which highlights the utility and efficiency of our approach.”

Select antibodies discovered in Atreca’s research have progressed to preclinical testing in in vivo models of cancer, with the goal of selecting candidates to enter into more advanced preclinical studies, based on a detailed understanding of anti-tumor immune responses.

“The results disclosed at Keystone this week demonstrate the power of Atreca’s Immune Repertoire Capture™ platform and its ability to generate novel antibodies that can target cancer,” commented Tito A. Serafini, Ph.D., Atreca’s President, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder. “Our technology allows Atreca to mine the key phenomenon driving efficacious anti-cancer immune responses—a patient’s own anti-tumor immunity—with the goal of using this knowledge to help other patients fight their disease.” Dr. Serafini added, “We are grateful to our collaborators for their dedication to this research and look forward to the continued progress of our lead efforts into the clinic.”

About Atreca, Inc.

Atreca is a privately held biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics drawn from human immune responses, including effective anti-cancer immune responses. We are able to measure and analyze the structure of clinically relevant immune responses to identify the antibodies, T cell receptors, and targets that are key to successful treatment outcomes. Atreca’s proprietary Immune Repertoire Capture™ technology profiles a patient’s immune response at the single-cell level at very high throughput without bias or error, enabling the identification and generation of functional human antibodies and TCRs without prior knowledge of antigen. The Company is advancing a pipeline of candidates with the objective of enhancing engagement of the human immune response in cancer treatment and other indications, thus optimizing therapeutic outcomes. For more information on Atreca, please visit www.atreca.com.