Realising the Potential of

invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) Cell Therapy

Arovella Therapeutics (ASX: ALA) is a biotechnology company focused on developing its unique iNKT cell therapy platform to treat cancer.

Lead Program: ALA-101

We expect ALA-101 (CAR19-iNKT) cells to be effective against blood cancers that naturally produce CD19.

More about ALA-101

What are the benefits of CAR-iNKT cells?

iNKT cells are the front line of the human immune system, rapidly activated in response to microbial infections and cancer cells. Introducing a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) to iNKT cells (CAR-iNKT cell) gives the cell a targeted action against certain cancers. Unlike conventional T cells, iNKT cells do not cause graft versus host disease (GvHD) so they can be given from a healthy donor to a patient. This will help to create an off-the-shelf product to improve patient access to cell therapies.

How do CAR-iNKT cells
work?

Once a CAR is introduced into iNKT cells, they have several ways to recognise and kill cancer cells, so they are multi-targeting. Firstly, the CAR enables them to recognise and kill cancer cells that express a particular target. This CAR can be modified in each product to target different cancer types. iNKT cells also have an invariant T Cell Receptor (TCR) which recognises lipid-bound CD1d and enables CAR-iNKT cells to naturally target cancers that express CD1d. Lastly, CAR-iNKT cells can kill tumour cells via the NKG2D pathway which is an “NK cell-like” killing mechanism. In preclinical studies, this results in increased activity over conventional T cell therapies. iNKT cells can also block and kill pro tumour cells and secrete cytokines to stimulate other immune cells such as T and NK cells.

How could CAR-iNKT cells change the cancer landscape?

The CAR-T field has enabled the healthcare setting to see the profound effects that cell therapies can have against diseases like cancer. However, the fact that they must be produced from each patient makes the therapy challenging to manufacture and costly for healthcare systems globally. Arovella’s CAR-iNKT cells are being developed to be used off-the-shelf, which may enhance patient access to this class of therapeutic.

Learn more about the benefits of iNKT cells