TransCode Therapeutics, Inc. reported successful preclinical proof-of-mechanism studies with its immunotherapy candidate, TTX-RIGA, in melanoma. TTX-RIGA, a novel immunotherapeutic candidate for the treatment of cancer, is designed to work by binding to an intracellular receptor called RIG-I (retinoic acid-inducible gene I). This is expected to result in targeted activation of innate immunity in the tumor microenvironment.

Recent developments in the use of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) such as RIG-I aim to harness the innate power of the immune system for cancer therapy. TransCode believes that understanding how to recruit PRRs, such as RIG-I, in a tumor-selective manner is critical for its adoption in the clinic. Similar immunotherapeutics of others have been shown to induce complete tumor regressions in animals and have triggered immunity against the tumor.

However, those immunotherapeutics are often administered directly into the tumor to avoid the toxicity resulting from activation of an adverse immune response against healthy tissues. This mode of administration has not proven clinically effective due to limited access to the tumor cells, especially in the context of disseminated metastatic cancer. TransCode seeks to address this challenge by developing a strategy for tumor-selective activation of an immune response specific to cancer cells using systemic administration with its proprietary nanoparticle delivery system, TTX.

TransCode anticipates that Immune activation will not be triggered in healthy tissues that do not express the target, but rather will be selectively activated in tumors and metastases that do express the target. In preclinical studies, TransCode's delivery of TTX-RIGA inside tumors and metastases generated an RNA-based agonist of the RIG-I gene, targeting activation of innate immunity in the tumor microenvironment in multiple solid tumors, holding promise for the development of a novel class of immunotherapeutics for cancer treatment.