{"id":50495,"date":"2022-11-04T13:02:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T12:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pharma-trend.com\/en\/asher-bio-presents-new-data-demonstrating-preclinical-proof-of-concept-for-ab359-a-highly-selective-cd8-targeted-il-2-therapy-for-chronic-hepatitis-b-hbv-at-aasld-2022\/"},"modified":"2022-11-04T13:02:23","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T12:02:23","slug":"asher-bio-presents-new-data-demonstrating-preclinical-proof-of-concept-for-ab359-a-highly-selective-cd8-targeted-il-2-therapy-for-chronic-hepatitis-b-hbv-at-aasld-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pharma-trend.com\/en\/asher-bio-presents-new-data-demonstrating-preclinical-proof-of-concept-for-ab359-a-highly-selective-cd8-targeted-il-2-therapy-for-chronic-hepatitis-b-hbv-at-aasld-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Asher Bio Presents New Data Demonstrating Preclinical Proof-of-Concept for AB359, a Highly Selective CD8-Targeted IL-2 Therapy, for Chronic Hepatitis B (HBV) at AASLD 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Asher Biotherapeutics, Inc.<\/a> (Asher Bio), a biotechnology company focused on developing therapies to precisely engage specific immune cells to fight cancer, chronic viral infection and autoimmune disease, today announced new preclinical data demonstrating proof-of-concept for AB359 as a novel immunotherapy approach for chronic HBV. AB359 is Asher Bio\u2019s CD8-targeted interleukin-2 (IL-2) immunotherapy for the treatment of chronic viral infection. The data will be presented in a poster presentation at the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) 2022 Annual Meeting, being held in Washington, DC, on November 4-8, 2022.\n<\/p>\n

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\n\u201cWe are pleased to share these foundational preclinical data for AB359, demonstrating the broad applicability of our cis-targeting approach to potentially overcome key shortcomings of cytokine therapeutics and immunotherapies across a range of therapeutic areas, including oncology and now chronic viral infection,\u201d said Andy Yeung, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder of Asher Bio. \u201cChronic HBV is a major global health burden, which affects over 250 million people worldwide. Existing antiviral standard of care medicines, however, are indicated for only a subset of patients and offer low cure rates. Using our modular cis-targeting platform, we developed AB359 to selectively activate CD8+ T cells, which are important for clearing viruses, but become dysfunctional in patients with chronic HBV. We look forward to continuing to advance AB359 through preclinical development.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nCD8+ T cells have been shown to be involved in clearing some viral infections, including HBV. While functional HBV-reactive CD8+ T cells are detectable in HBV patients that clear viral infection, they are challenging to detect in patients with chronic HBV, suggesting the responses of CD8+ T cells against HBV antigens may be deficient in chronically infected patients. In addition, in preclinical HBV models that recapitulate HBV-induced CD8+ T cell dysfunction, IL-2-based treatment was observed to reduce this CD8+ T cell defect, suggesting that IL-2 therapy may offer a promising approach to reinvigorate immunity against HBV. Asher Bio developed AB359 as a novel immunotherapy for chronic HBV, which selectively acts on CD8+ T cells to avoid the pleiotropy that has historically limited the clinical utility of broadly acting IL-2 based therapies.\n<\/p>\n

\nIn a poster presentation titled, \u201cSelective activation of the IL-2 pathway in CD8+ T cells drives antiviral activity in a hepatitis B virus (HBV) model,\u201d lead author Kelly Moynihan, Ph.D., Senior Director and Project Team Leader at Asher Bio, described the molecular design of AB359 and presented preclinical in vitro <\/i>and in vivo<\/i> data that support the development of AB359 as a novel immunotherapy approach, which could contribute to ongoing efforts to develop curative therapeutic regimens for chronic HBV. The data show:\n<\/p>\n