Intima Bioscience Presents Groundbreaking CRISPR Therapeutic Data at AACR Annual Meeting

Immunotherapy Weekly reported on groundbreaking data presented by Intima Bioscience at the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. The study, led by Dr. Emil Lou, demonstrated the feasibility of using CRISPR knockout of the intracellular immune checkpoint CISH in T cells to treat metastatic colorectal cancer. This approach aims to unlock the anti-cancer potential of intracellular checkpoint targets, previously deemed undruggable. The results of the first-in-human study were contemporaneously published in The Lancet Oncology.

Key Takeaways:

• Intima Bioscience presented a first-in-human study using CRISPR knockout of the intracellular immune checkpoint CISH in T cells to treat metastatic colorectal cancer.
• The study, led by Dr. Emil Lou, demonstrated the feasibility of this approach, which aims to unlock the anti-cancer potential of intracellular checkpoint targets.
• The dataset consisted of 12 patients who had received multiple lines of therapy, including standard-of-care chemotherapy and biologic agents.
• Dr. Christopher Klebanoff, a senior advisor to the study, emphasized the potential of intracellular immune checkpoints as harbinger of a new class of immune checkpoints with pan-cancer activity.
• The study's results challenge the current limits of the PD1/PD-L1 paradigm in immunotherapy and suggest a promising therapeutic approach.

Statistics:

• 12 patients participated in the first-in-human study.
• The study used CRISPR/Cas9 deletion of CISH as a model system to evaluate the viability of CISH checkpoint inhibition.
• The patients had received multiple lines of therapy, including standard-of-care chemotherapy and biologic agents.
• The study aims to unlock the anti-cancer potential of intracellular checkpoint targets, previously deemed undruggable.
• Seven genomic screens have converged on nominating intracellular immune checkpoints as highly promising therapeutic targets.

Sources:

• NewsRx (2025): Intima Bioscience, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), The Lancet Oncology.
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK).
• University of Minnesota.