Cytonus’ tech helps oncolytic viruses evade immune system
Cytonus Therapeutics, a San Diego-based biotech, is putting its Cargocyte technology platform through pre-clinical studies for the delivery of oncolytic viruses, but also has the potential to be used in gene therapy, therapeutic RNAs, small molecule compounds, and other immune-modulating treatments.
The US company will present its platform at BIO International Convention, whilst also discussing its corporate strategy and developments plans, Cytonus’ CEO, Remo Moomiaie-Qajar, told us.
Moomiaie-Qajar explained that the aim for attending the conference is to “educate our peers in the industry about the attributes and benefits of using our Cargocytes to deliver therapeutics to tissue in a safer, more precise way.”
“We hope that the versatility of our platform sparks the interest of potential collaborators who have unique therapeutics that need a delivery vehicle,” he continued.
The biotech will present its preclinical data to attendees, which studied the use of Cargocyte delivery technology alongside oncolytic viruses to treat triple negative breast cancer.
According the company, the data showed that 40% of animals treated showed no sign of disease more than 260 days post-treatment, while control animals typically died within 25 to 30 days.
Moomiaie-Qajar outlined why this benefit is seen, “With our delivery vehicle, the oncolytic virus is able to evade the immune system and home specifically to tumour cells, where they infect the tumour cells and destroy them.”
This avoids the issue whereby the immune system acts to destroy the viruses, which current delivery methods have experienced issues with, Moomiaie-Qajar added.
As well this, Cargocytes are able to carry multiple different therapeutics and actively migrate out of the vasculature.
The work Cytonus is carrying out taps into a growing interest in utilising oncolytic viruses therapeutically, which is seeing manufacturers expand capacity to meet demand and increased investment in the area, on the part of big pharma companies.
