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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 27, 2021 / Tarus Therapeutics Inc., an innovative biotechnology company developing adenosine receptor antagonists for cancer immunotherapy, today announced that it has received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Investigational New Drug (IND) application to proceed with a clinical study of TT-4, an oral small molecule drug targeting the Adenosine A2B receptor (A2BR).
Tarus plans to initiate a Phase 1a/1b study in the third quarter of 2021 to evaluate TT-4 in patients with advanced solid tumors both as a monotherapy and in combination with other anti-cancer agents.
Adenosine signaling is not only immunosuppressive but also directly promotes tumor growth and metastasis. A2BR biology is distinct from A2AR in that its expression is induced by hypoxia via HIF1 (hypoxia-inducible factor), leading to the activation of transcription factors such as ERK, JNK and p38 MAPK in tumor cells. This cascade in turn has been shown to