Highly Differentiated Anti-CD47 Antibody, AO-176, Potently Inhibits Hematologic Malignancies Alone and in Combination

AO-176 is a highly differentiated, humanized anti-CD47 IgG2 antibody that is unique among agents in this class of checkpoint inhibitors. AO-176 works by blocking the "don't eat me" signal, the standard mechanism of anti-CD47 antibodies, but also by directly killing tumor cells. Importantly, AO-176 binds preferentially to tumor cells, compared to normal cells, and binds even more potently to tumors in their acidic microenvironment (low pH).

Hematological neoplasms are the fourth most frequently diagnosed cancers in both men and women and account for approximately 10% of all cancers. Here we describe AO-176, a highly differentiated anti-CD47 antibody that potently targets hematologic cancers in vitro and in vivo. As a single agent, AO-176 not only promotes phagocytosis (15-45%, EC₅₀ = 0.33-4.1 µg/ml) of hematologic tumor cell lines (acute myeloid leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and T cell leukemia) but also directly targets and kills tumor cells (18-46% Annexin V positivity, EC₅₀ = 0.63-10 µg/ml) in a non-ADCC manner. In combination with agents targeting CD20 (rituximab) or CD38 (daratumumab), AO-176 mediates enhanced phagocytosis of lymphoma and multiple myeloma cell lines, respectively. In vivo, AO-176 mediates potent monotherapy tumor growth inhibition of hematologic tumors including Raji B cell lymphoma and RPMI-8226 multiple myeloma xenograft models in a dose-dependent manner. Concomitant with tumor growth inhibition, immune cell infiltrates were observed with elevated numbers of macrophage and dendritic cells, along with increased pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in AO-176 treated animals. When combined with bortezomib, AO-176 was able to elicit complete tumor regression (100% CR in 10/10 animals treated with either 10 or 25 mg/kg AO-176 + 1 mg/kg bortezomib) with no detectable tumor out to 100 days at study termination. Overall survival was also greatly improved following combination therapy compared to animals treated with bortezomib or AO-176 alone. These data show that AO-176 exhibits promising monotherapy and combination therapy activity, both in vitro and in vivo, against hematologic cancers.

These findings also add to the previously reported anti-tumor efficacy exhibited by AO-176 in solid tumor xenografts representing ovarian, gastric and breast cancer. With AO-176's highly differentiated MOA and binding characteristics, it may have the potential to improve upon the safety and efficacy profiles relative to other agents in this class. AO-176 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial (NCT03834948) for the treatment of patients with select solid tumors.