Dr. Kaplan on a Study With Combination Immune Macrophage Checkpoint Blockade in Lymphoma

Lawrence D. Kaplan, MD, clinical professor of medicine, director, Adult Lymphoma Program, Division of Hematology-Oncology, University of California, San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses a phase Ib study with combination immune macrophage checkpoint blockade in indolent lymphoma.

In the trial, investigators evaluated combination immune macrophage checkpoint blockade in patients with indolent lymphoma, explains Kaplan. Instead of looking at T-cell checkpoints, investigators looked at macrophage checkpoints, such as CD47. When CD47 is expressed on a cancer cell, it comes in the form of a “do not eat me” signal, which is critical in terms of immune response and whether the cancer cells will be phagocytosed by a macrophage, explains Kaplan.

In the current phase Ib study (NCT02953509), investigators utilize a novel agent targeting CD47, explains Kaplan. According to a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, CD47, when paired with the investigational antibody Hu5F9-G4 appeared to be safe and have therapeutic synergy, enacting macrophage phagocytosis of B-cell cancer cells in human patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.