5 December 2022 - - US-based clinical-stage biotechnology company Turnstone Biologics Corp has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, to evaluate the generation of tumor-reactive T-cells, which form the basis of Turnstone's tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte platform (Selected TILs), from clinical tissue samples obtained from patients treated with Turnstone's proprietary viral immunotherapies, the company said.

The combination of Selected TILs and viral immunotherapy have the potential to enhance the efficacy of TILs and to extend their benefit to patients with a broad array of solid tumors.

The collaboration will be co-led by Stewart Abbot, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, Turnstone Biologics, and Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Surgery Branch at the NCI's Center for Cancer Research and a pioneer in the fields of immunotherapy and cell therapy.

Selected TILs represent the foundational therapeutic modality driving Turnstone's cancer immunotherapy pipeline and leverage decades of published work grounded in academia that have demonstrated the promise of treating solid tumor cancers through the identification, selection, and expansion of the most potent patient specific tumor-reactive T-cells.

Turnstone's viral immunotherapies are designed to enhance trafficking of these Selected TILs directly to the site of the tumor and modify the immunosuppressive microenvironment to support the anti-tumor functions of infiltrating immune cells.

Through this novel combination, Turnstone aims to improve and broaden the clinical efficacy of Selected TILs and overcome the limitations of current treatment options to achieve positive outcomes in intractable solid tumors.

Under the terms of the CRADA, the parties will evaluate the impact of Turnstone's proprietary oncolytic viruses on increasing the immune response to tumor neoantigens in clinical patient samples.

Turnstone will be responsible for manufacturing and administering its viral immunotherapies to patients and subsequent tissue collection.

NCI investigators will use NCI-developed methods and proprietary in vitro techniques to study lymphocytes derived from these patients, characterize their specificity and evaluate their persistence.

The parties will jointly analyze data and exchange information and expertise to advance the development of oncolytic viruses as an improved method for the generation of Selected TILs.

Turnstone Biologics, a clinical stage biotechnology company, is developing new medicines to treat and cure solid tumors by pioneering a differentiated approach with a clinically validated technology, tumor infiltrating lymphocyte therapy.