Autolus Therapeutics announces publication in ACS Chemical Biology

Autolus Therapeutics announced a publication in ACS Chemical Biology1 entitled: ‘Designer small molecule control system based on Minocycline induced disruption of protein-protein interaction.’ Cell-based therapies have become increasingly complex and are being used to treat a wide range of diseases such as cancer and autoimmunity. However, cell therapies have the capacity to engraft and function autonomously, making it challenging to modulate potency or toxicity by adjusting administration or dosage. Jha et al. describe a compact small molecule control system, called minoDab, using minimally immunogenic protein domains and the antibiotic minocycline as an inducer. Minocycline is in widespread clinical use, is safe and is highly bioavailable. This system is compact and versatile allowing development of a wide range of applications including OFF-switch CAR systems, controlled secretion of cellular payload such as cytokines, and customized synthetic cell-cell communication systems. “Cellular therapy of cancer, especially of solid tumours, can be challenging due to off tumor activity and immunotoxicity,” said Dr Martin Pule, Chief Scientific Officer, Founder of Autolus and senior author. “This control system is very practical from a clinical perspective since it uses Minocycline for control. Such systems should improve the efficacy and safety of cellular therapies and accelerate clinical development.”