An anti-CAIX fully human antibody is designed to recognize CAIX expressing cells and kill them via antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (“ADCC”) and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (“CDC”). Scientific literature indicates that CAIX is a well characterized tumor associated antigen with expression almost exclusively limited to the cells of renal cell carcinoma (“RCC”). More than 85% of RCC cases have been demonstrated to express high levels of CAIX expression.
Administering an anti-CAIX antibody could trigger killing of CAIX-positive human RCC cell lines via ADCC and CDC through inhibited growth of CAIX-positive tumors as well the activation of T-cells and NK cells. We licensed the exclusive worldwide rights to certain anti-CAIX antibodies from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in March 2015.
We plan to develop our anti-CAIX antibody for the treatment of patients with RCC in combination with an anti-PD-L1 and/or anti-GITR antibody as well as potentially other anti-tumor immune response potentiating compounds and/or targeted therapies.