REPRogramming tumors INTo immune cells (REPRINT): a revolutionary gene therapy to treat cancer

The goal of this project is to obtain definitive proof-of-principle (PoP) for the use of TrojanDC, a first-in-class gene therapy for the treatment of solid tumors, in particular Melanoma stage 3-4, that uses three transcription factors (PU.1, IRF8 and BATF3) which directly reprogram cancer cells to become antigen-presenting dendritic cells. These tumor-derived dendritic cells still have cancer-specific antigens, which they now present on their cell-surface to elicit a strong anti-cancer immune response (i.e., by recruiting NK-cells and macrophages and educating and activating B- and T-cells). By leveraging efficacy and safety data on TrojanDC’s anti-tumor immune responses, we will be ready to start GMP-like production of TrojanDC after this project to enable regulatory filing for first-in-human studies.