MURA-8518
Understanding Our Treatment Candidates
Our enhanced IL-18 is engineered to deliver a more sustained immune response for cancer treatment.
The Challenge:
IL-18 is a potent immune-stimulating cytokine, but its activity is blunted by IL-18 binding protein (IL-18BP), a high affinity decoy protein that neutralizes IL-18, thereby rendering it ineffective. Native IL-18’s potency is also limited by its short half-life.
Our Design:
MURA-8518 aims to address the shortcomings of native IL-18 in two ways. First, through the introduction of mutations designed to minimally impact the native structure while eliminating binding to IL-18BP. Secondly, half-life extension via fusion to a protein scaffold increases the cytokine’s exposure, allowing for sustained immune stimulation. Together, these have demonstrated more durable immunological effects in preclinical studies.
Our IL-18 program is currently in preclinical development.