DALLAS, Nov. 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Instil Bio, Inc. (“Instil”) (NASDAQ: TIL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing tumor infiltrating lymphocyte, or TIL, therapies for the treatment of patients with cancer, today reported two poster presentations at the SITC 2023 Annual Meeting demonstrating that its proprietary CoStimulatory Antigen Receptor (CoStAR™) platform enhances the activity of CD4+ T cells across multiple axes.

TIL therapy utilizes a mixed population of tumor-reactive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, with both populations of T cells able to drive tumor regression. CoStAR has previously been demonstrated to improve proliferation, secretion of soluble factors, and in vivo tumor control in preclinical studies with mixed populations of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. New single-cell RNA sequencing data presented at the SITC 2023 Annual Meeting revealed enhanced gene signatures of activation and cytotoxicity in CoStAR-transduced CD4+ T cells, with significant increases in cytotoxic function of these CD4+ T cells in an in vitro cytotoxicity assay. These data suggest that CoStAR is able to endow CD4+ T cells with novel cell-killing capacity, potentially broadening the repertoire of tumor-killing TIL to include CD4+ T cells in addition to naturally cytotoxic CD8+ T cells.

Additionally, CoStAR was demonstrated to enhance the secretion of soluble factors from CD4+ T cells to boost the proliferation and survival of companion CD8+ T cells. As CoStAR provides proliferative benefit to mixed populations of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, these data demonstrate the importance of CD4+ CoStAR-T cells in supporting the proliferation of CD8+ CoStAR-T cells through the provision of soluble factors.

“The data presented at the SITC 2023 Annual Meeting reinforce the potential of CoStAR to broadly enhance the function of TIL therapies through multiple functional enhancements,” said Bronson Crouch, CEO of Instil.

Posters may be found on the Instil Bio Publications webpage:

POSTER | SITC ANNUAL MEETING, NOVEMBER 3-5 2023

Single cell RNA sequencing reveals functionally validated signatures of cytotoxicity in anti-FRα CoStimulatory Antigen Receptor (CoStAR™) activated CD4+ T cells.

POSTER | SITC ANNUAL MEETING, NOVEMBER 3-5 2023

Anti-folate receptor alpha (FRα) CoStimulatory Antigen Receptor (CoStAR™) drives distinct cytokine-mediated proliferation responses in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells.

About Instil Bio

Instil Bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: TIL) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing TIL therapies for the treatment of patients with cancer. Instil has assembled an accomplished management team with a successful track record in the research, development and manufacture of cell therapies. Using its proprietary and optimized manufacturing processes at its in-house manufacturing facility, Instil is developing a novel class of genetically engineered TIL therapies using its Co-Stimulatory Antigen Receptor, or CoStAR™, platform, including ITIL-306, a next-generation, genetically-engineered TIL therapy for multiple solid tumors. For more information visit www.instilbio.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “expects,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “potential,” “projects,” and “will” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning or implying the therapeutic potential of our preclinical data, our product candidates, our research, development and regulatory plans for our product candidates, the timing of our ongoing and potential future clinical trials and studies and the availability and presentation of data therefrom, including our expectations concerning the initiation of, and timing of updates on, our ITIL-306-202 clinical trial, the potential for us to make submissions concerning, and for our product candidates to receive, regulatory approval from the FDA, MHRA or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies and whether, if approved, these product candidates will be successfully distributed and marketed, our cash runway, and other statements that are not historical fact. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including risks and uncertainties associated with the costly and time-consuming cell therapy product development process and the uncertainty of clinical success, including risks related to failure or delays in successfully initiating, enrolling, reporting data from or completing clinical studies, as well as the risks that results obtained in preclinical studies or clinical trials to date may not be indicative of results obtained in ongoing or future trials and that Instil’s product candidates may otherwise not be effective treatments in their planned indications; macroeconomic conditions, including as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, bank failures and other factors, which could materially and adversely affect Instil’s business and operations, including Instil's ability to timely initiate, enroll and complete its ongoing and future clinical trials; the time-consuming and uncertain regulatory approval process; risks inherent in manufacturing and testing of cell therapy products; the sufficiency of Instil’s cash resources, and other risks and uncertainties affecting Instil and its development programs, including those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, and in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2023 filed with the SEC. Additional information will be made available in other filings that we make from time to time with the SEC. Accordingly, these forward-looking statements do not constitute guarantees of future performance, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as the date hereof, and we disclaim any obligation to update these statements except as may be required by law.

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