BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Therapeutics

CARD11, MALT1 inhibition sensitizes melanoma, colorectal tumors to PD-1 inhibitors

June 11, 2019 7:11 PM UTC

INDICATION: Melanoma; colorectal cancer

Mouse studies suggest inhibiting CARD11 or MALT1 could help sensitize melanoma and colorectal cancer to PD-1 inhibitors. In mouse models of melanoma and colon cancer, conditional knockout of CARD11 in one or both alleles in Treg cells decreased tumor growth compared with normal CARD11 expression. In a mouse model of melanoma, CARD11 knockout plus an anti-PD-1 antibody decreased tumor growth compared with normal CARD11 expression and/or a control antibody. In mouse models of melanoma and colorectal cancer resistant to anti-PD-1 antibodies, the MALT1 inhibitor mepazine increased sensitivity to an anti-PD-1 antibody compared with vehicle. Next steps could include testing a CARD11 or MALT1 inhibitor in patient-derived models of melanoma and colorectal cancer...