Abstract 5629: Preclinical characterization of Sym023 a human anti-TIM3 antibody with a novel mechanism of action

Immunotherapy has become a major focus of research in oncology and blockade of immune checkpoints such as cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Associated Protein 4 (CTLA4) and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) has been some of the most successful immunotherapies. The next wave of immunomodulatory targets that are being explored for cancer therapy include T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain protein 3 (TIM3). TIM3 is constitutively expressed on cells of myeloid origin whereas the TIM3 expression is induced on T-cells upon activation. The exact function of TIM3 on the different immune cells is not clear and may be context dependent suggesting that TIM3 is not a classical immune check-point. Sym023 is a human anti-TIM3 antibody, which binds human TIM3 and cross-reacts with cynomolgus monkey TIM3. Sym023 blocks binding of phosphatidyl serine but not galectin 9 and stimulates T-cell proliferation in mixed lymphocyte reactions and tumor growth inhibition in vivo. Here, we present data demonstrating that ligation of TIM3 by Sym023 increase cytokine production and T cell proliferation in vitro through a novel mechanism of action. Citation Format: Trine Lindsted, Monika Gad, Michael V. Grandal, Camilla Frolich, Vikram K. Bhatia, Torben Gjetting, Johan Lantto, Ivan D. Horak, Michael Kragh, Klaus Koefoed, Mikkel W. Pedersen. Preclinical characterization of Sym023 a human anti-TIM3 antibody with a novel mechanism of action [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5629.