ESMO Immuno-Oncology 2025 | Targeting MED16 to enhance responses to immunotherapy in cancer
Dimitrios Garyfallos, PhD, University College London, London, UK, discusses the process of translating identified targets, such as MED16, into therapeutic strategies by designing ways to inhibit or modulate the pathway in human tumors. Dr Garyfallos highlights the potential of combining these targets with existing immunotherapies, like anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1, or anti-CTLA-4, to amplify responses and drive stronger anti-tumor immunity. This interview took place at 2025 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Immuno-Oncology Congress in London, UK.
These works are owned by Magdalen Medical Publishing (MMP) and are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reserved.
Transcript
Yeah, that’s a great question. I mean, it’s something we started thinking of since we identified this target. So let’s say MED16 or any other target, really, once such a target is identified, you can start thinking first on how can we design a way to inhibit or modulate the pathway in human tumors, right? This can be either done genetically, pharmacologically, or with other approaches...
Yeah, that’s a great question. I mean, it’s something we started thinking of since we identified this target. So let’s say MED16 or any other target, really, once such a target is identified, you can start thinking first on how can we design a way to inhibit or modulate the pathway in human tumors, right? This can be either done genetically, pharmacologically, or with other approaches. Then we’re thinking of, okay, how can we combine this with existing successful immunotherapies? If knocking out a specific gene of interest makes the tumor cells more visible to the immune system, what happens if you pair that with anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1, anti-CTLA-4, any of the new immunotherapies that are actually in the multiple pipelines that we have at our disposal? Would that amplify responses even further? So effectively, the path to translation becomes quite natural. We first identify this gene of interest with our screening technologies. We try to define and understand its mechanism of action. Then we build a therapeutic that mimics the knockout effect. And finally, we integrate it with established immunotherapies to drive stronger and more durable anti-tumor immunity.
This transcript is AI-generated. While we strive for accuracy, please verify this copy with the video.
Read more...
