Moleculin Biotech (MBRX) Announces New Publication Finds Combination of WP1066 and Radiation Resulted in Long-Term Survival in Human Brain Tumor Mouse Model

Moleculin Biotech, Inc., (Nasdaq: MBRX) ("Moleculin" or the "Company"), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of drug candidates targeting highly resistant tumors and viruses, today announced that a peer-reviewed article published in Clinical Cancer Research (Clin Cancer Res June 30 2020 DOI:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-19-4092) reported findings that Moleculin's STAT3 inhibitor, WP1066, used in combination with traditional whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) resulted in long-term survivors and enhanced median survival time relative to monotherapy in mice with implanted human brain tumors.

The paper can be accessed at: https://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2020/06/30/1078-0432.CCR-19-4092.full-text.pdf

The study was performed by lead author Martina Ott, Ph.D., Instructor of Neurosurgery, senior author Amy Heimberger, M.D., professor of Neurosurgery, and a team of researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Heimberger also is the Principle Investigator of the current investigator-initiated clinical trial of WP1066 for brain tumors.

In the current study, C57BL/6 mice underwent intracerebral implantation of GL261 glioma cells, WBRT, and treatment with WP1066, a blood-brain barrier penetrant inhibitor of the STAT3 pathway, or the two in combination. The role of the immune system was evaluated using tumor rechallenge strategies, immune incompetent backgrounds, immunofluorescence, immune phenotyping of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (via flow cytometry), and nanostring gene expression analysis of 770 immune-related genes from immune cells, including those directly isolated from the tumor microenvironment.

The combination of WP1066 and WBRT resulted in long-term survivors and enhanced median survival time relative to monotherapy in the GL261 glioma model (combination vs. control p<0.0001). Immunological memory appeared to be induced, because mice were protected during subsequent tumor rechallenge. The therapeutic effect of the combination was completely lost in immune incompetent animals. Nanostring analysis and immunofluorescence revealed immunological reprogramming in the brain tumor microenvironment specifically affecting dendritic-cell antigen presentation and T cell effector functions. The study indicates that the combination of STAT3 inhibition and WBRT enhances the therapeutic effect against gliomas in the CNS by inducing dendritic-cell and T cell interactions in the brain tumor, which seems to be a requirement for a fully functional immune response

"This impressive study confirms preliminary data we announced last year," commented Walter Klemp, Chairman and CEO of Moleculin. "Importantly, the study indicated that the combination of STAT3 inhibition with whole brain radiotherapy had the capacity to enhance the therapeutic effect against established tumors as well as developing immune memory that appears to prevent recurrence."

The research was supported by the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (IIRA-RP160482), the National Institutes of Health (CA1208113, P50 CA093459, P50 CA127001 and P30 CA016672), the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation, MD Anderson's Glioblastoma Moon Shot, and the Brockman Foundation.

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