お知らせ • Mar 20
Oncolytics Biotech Inc. Presents New Mechanistic And Translational Data Supporting Pelareorep as An Immune-Priming Backbone
Oncolytics Biotech Inc. announced two abstracts across distinct tumor types were accepted for presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2026 at the San Diego Convention Center from April 17-22, 2026. Pelareorep is an investigational, systemically delivered immunotherapy that has been shown to activate innate immune-sensing pathways via double-stranded RNA signaling, driving interferon production, dendritic cell activation, and cytotoxic T-cell priming. Translational data suggest potential to boost response to immunotherapy and targeted therapy in RAS-driven tumors. Pelareorep’s ability to engage the innate and adaptive immune system results in doubling or nearly tripling response rates in breast and gastrointestinal cancers. Biomarker data from cohort 1 of the Phase 1/2 GOBLET trial in advanced pancreatic cancer suggest pelareorep plus atezolizumab and gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel can shift tumors toward a more immune-active state. Patients with an immune activation signature after four weeks were more likely to achieve durable clinical benefit, supporting a potential biomarker. Pancreatic cancer continues to pose a significant unmet clinical need, with approximately 510,000 new cases reported globally each year. New first-of-its-kind data from AWARE-1 show pelareorep can drive coordinated anti-tumor immune responses, including tertiary lymphoid structure formation, helping make immunologically cold tumors more susceptible to immunotherapy. Pelareorep has also been shown to stimulate RAS-specific T-cell clones in gastrointestinal cancers, which may enhance its ability to target RAS-mutated tumor cells. Together, the data support pelareorep as a novel immune-priming strategy capable of enhancing the activity of multiple therapeutic classes, including checkpoint inhibitors, targeted therapies, chemotherapy, and emerging immuno-oncology modalities. New biomarker data from cohort 1 of the Phase 1/2 GOBLET study demonstrated that pelareorep in combination with atezolizumab, gemcitabine, and nab-paclitaxel led to meaningful immune activation in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. An exploratory analysis integrating routine serum markers, a 172-protein circulating panel, selected T-cell receptor sequencing, and clinical outcomes found early on-treatment changes showed increases in adaptive immune and cytotoxicity-associated proteins, including interferon signaling and CD8+/NK-related markers, alongside decreases in tumor/stroma-associated proteins. A 14-protein signature linked to oncolytic activity stratified patients at Week 4 into ‘hot’ vs. ‘cold’ immune phenotypes relative to baseline. Patients demonstrating immune activation signatures experienced longer median progression-free survival (7.5 months) compared with patients who did not exhibit similar immune responses (5.6 months). The combination of pelareorep, atezolizumab, gemcitabine, and nab-paclitaxel demonstrated a 62% objective response rate in first-line metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients, more than double the response rates historically observed with chemotherapy alone. AWARE-1 is a window-of-opportunity study evaluating the effects of pelareorep in early-stage breast cancer. In biopsies from Cohort 2 (n=8), cellular neighborhood analysis identified immune-cell clusters, including cytotoxic T cells, dendritic cells, T helper cells, activated T helper cells, B cells, differentiated B cells, and M2 macrophages. Interactions between these cells developed into tertiary lymphoid structures in select patients. Tertiary lymphoid structures function as localized immune hubs that facilitate antigen presentation, T-cell activation, and sustained anti-tumor immune responses. Published studies link tertiary lymphoid structure formation with improved responses to immunotherapy. These findings support pelareorep’s potential to expand cytotoxic T cells, activate dendritic cells, and promote tertiary lymphoid structure formation, helping to convert immunologically ‘cold’ tumors into immune-responsive ‘hot’ tumors. The combination of pelareorep, letrozole, and atezolizumab resulted in 60% of patients experiencing 30% or greater increases in their CelTIL score.