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Abstract PR005: Highly potent fully human anti-VISTA antibodies – A new target checkpoint inhibitor against immunosuppressive myeloid cells

V-domain Immunoglobulin Suppressor of T cell Activation (VISTA/PD-1H) is a B7 family ligand expressed on circulating and intratumoural myeloid cells as well as Treg and NK cells. It has been shown to inhibit T cell responses in vitro and in preclinical models. In patients, VISTA is also a potential mediator of resistance to anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD1 therapies and therefore is a valuable new target for cancer immunotherapy. Kineta has analyzed 107 fully human ScFv antibodies directed against VISTA. Our lead candidates exhibit high potencies in the subnanomolar range and are also characterized by a long kDis. They specifically target human and cynomolgus monkey VISTA on a singular unique epitope. In a Staphylococcus Enterotoxin B T-cell activation assay, Kineta’s anti-VISTA antibodies efficiently induce IFNg secretion. They also promote strong maturation of Antigen Presenting Cells with an increase of CD80 and HLA-DR surface expression as well as CXCL10 secretion. The mechanism of action is mediated in part by NK cells. We demonstrated that myeloid cells acquire a high level of VISTA expression during MDSC or M2 differentiation in vitro and that Kineta’s anti-VISTA antibodies prevent the differentiation of MDSC as well as their immunosuppressive activity against T cells. Anti-VISTA antibodies mediate single-agent antitumor effects in syngeneic tumor models in wild-type mice and show enhanced activity in combination with anti-PD1 and anti-CTLA-4 treatment. Candidate anti-VISTA antibodies have also been evaluated in exploratory tolerability and PK studies in cynomolgus monkey. These studies demonstrated that multiple weekly doses of antibodies are well-tolerated with appropriate PK for lead selection and optimization. Our results strongly favor further characterization and continued development of selected lead antibodies for the potential treatment of colder, less immunogenic tumors. This abstract is also being presented as PO035. Citation Format: Thierry Guillaudeux, Eric Tarcha, Robert Bader, Benjamin Dutzar, Nathan Eyde, Emily Frazier, David Jurchen, Remington Lance, Cristina Loomis, Kurt Lustig, Yulia Ovechkina, David Peckham, Jeff Posakony, Shaarwari Sridhar, Mei Xu, Shawn Iadonato. Highly potent fully human anti-VISTA antibodies – A new target checkpoint inhibitor against immunosuppressive myeloid cells [abstract]. In: Abstracts: AACR Virtual Special Conference: Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy; 2020 Oct 19-20. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2021;9(2 Suppl):Abstract nr PR005.