This program aims to develop IL-4R therapeutic fusion protein for immuno-oncology.
The IL4/IL4R signaling axis is a strong promoter of the pro-metastatic phenotype in epithelial cancer cells, including enhanced migration, invasion, survival, and proliferation. Biopsy samples from adult and pediatric patients with central nervous system tumors showed recurrent GBM and overexpress IL4R, while only a little or no IL4R expression is found in normal brain tissues. In addition, IL4R is expressed in myeloid suppressor cells and tumor-associated macrophages, which are known to protect tumors from cancer-killing immune cells and key components in the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). These data highlight the rationality of IL-4R as a promising target for immuno-oncology.
