Trillium Therapeutics Inc (TRIL)

[NY1972]

Weissman: We showed that anti-CD47 blocking antibodies synergize with humanized IgG1 antitumor antibodies such as rituximab, trastuzumab, and cetuximab to phagocytose and kill primary human cancers targeted by the antibodies to eliminate both the solid tumors and their metastases (244, 251). Mouse macrophages incubated with anti-CD47 antibody, which facilitated phagocytosis of human tumors that express cytoplasmic ova as a tumor antigen, cross-present the ova peptide with MHC I to TCR transgenic CD8, but not CD4 T cells in vitro (247). Such macrophages can be used to vaccinate syngeneic mice that have been transfused with OT-I T cells, and will resist subsequent challenge with a mouse leukemia that expresses cytoplasmic ova. Therefore, it is conceivable that the current clinical trials with humanized anti-CD47 antibodies will show both tumor phagocytosis and stimulation of T cells in vivo.

http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-immunol-032414-112003

Only 16 patients enrolled and 2 SD to show for years of research.