BioCentury
ARTICLE | Preclinical News

Researchers develop mAb that enhances phagocytosis of tumor cells

November 21, 2017 11:13 PM UTC

In a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at Stanford University and colleagues describe a mAb against signal regulatory protein alpha (SIRPA; CD172a; SHPS-1) that augments tumor killing when paired with a tumor-opsonizing antibody -- an antibody that mobilizes macrophages and neutrophils to attack tumor cells -- suggesting a combination therapy or bispecific antibody could be used to treat multiple tumor antigen-expressing cancers.

SIRPA is a CD47 receptor on phagocytic myeloid cells. While several companies have compounds in clinical development against CD47, the authors argue that targeting its ligand may reduce off-target effects as SIRPA has a limited expression pattern compared to CD47, which is expressed on both tumors and normal tissues...