Poster Presentation Asia-Pacific Vaccine and Immunotherapy Congress 2026

Alphavirus replicon particle expressing IL-12 reprograms tumor-associated macrophages and neutrophils and induces anti-tumor immunity (#103)

Momoko Ishikawa 1 , Dhanya K Nambiar 2 , Jaya Sastri 1 , Forrest Bowling 1 , Keiko Ishimoto 1 , Fumiya Tao 1 , Koyo Takahashi 1 , Ivan Stephanek 3 , Hongbin Cao 2 , Davis Leitner 1 , Kenta Matsuda 1 , Fred M Bail 3 , John B Sunwoo 3 , Quynh-Thu Le 2 , Jonathan F Smith 1 , Wataru Akahata 1 4
  1. VLP Therapeutics, Inc, Gaithersburg, MARYLAND, United States
  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
  3. Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, United States
  4. VLP Therapeutics Japan, Inc, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Cancers evade anti-tumor immunity by the infiltration of immunosuppressive myeloid cells such as macrophages and neutrophils into the tumor microenvironment (TME). The limited efficacy of current immunotherapy is attributed to the presence of these immunosuppressive cells. Here, we describe a novel immunotherapy approach, using a single-cycle alphavirus replicon particle (VRP) that carries a self-amplifying RNA encoding interleukin-12 (IL-12).  Leveraging the natural tropism of alphavirus to myeloid cells, single cell transcriptomic analyses of mouse tumor tissues demonstrated that intratumoral (i.t.) injection of the vector effectively reprogrammed tumor-associated macrophages and neutrophils toward a pro-inflammatory, anti-tumor phenotype via interferon signaling, further enhanced by IL-12 expression. The treatment also induced cytotoxic NK and T cell responses, resulting in a significant reduction of tumor growth and effectively preventing nodal and distant metastases in solid tumor mouse models. By targeting tumor-supporting myeloid cells to transform the TME into an immune-active state, our myeloid modulation approach has the potential to enhance the efficacy of current immunotherapies. Importantly, a Phase I clinical trial (NCT06736379) has been initiated under FDA IND regulations to evaluate the safety and efficacy of IL‑12 VRP administered alone or in combination with pembrolizumab with head and neck cancer.