Neutrophils are central to the future of solid tumour immunotherapy
Solid tumours create a highly suppressive microenvironment that blocks immune cells and limits the effectiveness of current immunotherapies. Neutrophils, however, naturally home to inflammation and can infiltrate even the most hostile tumour microenvironment.
Breakthrough studies now show that specialised anti-tumour neutrophils play a decisive role in tumour control and immunotherapy response:
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Immunotherapy-activated neutrophils adopt an interferon-stimulated anti-tumour programme, recruiting and activating T and NK cells within the TME (Benguigui et al., Cancer Cell 2024; Gungabeesoon et al., Cell 2023).
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Anti-tumour neutrophils directly eliminate tumour antigen-escape variants — a key failure point for CAR-T and other targeted therapies using innate, antigen-independent cytotoxic mechanisms (Hirschhorn et al., Cell 2023).
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LIFT’s IMAN platform builds on this science by providing a consistent, therapeutically-optimised source of anti-tumour neutrophils capable of infiltrating solid tumours and re-activating anti-tumour immunity in patients who have exhausted standard treatments.
IMANs: Defining The Next Generation of Neutrophil-Based Cancer Therapy
IMANs home naturally to inflamed tumour sites and actively infiltrate the solid tumour microenvironment – reaching niches that are typically inaccessible to other immune cells and cell therapies.
Tumour Infiltration
IMANs recruit and activate cytotoxic T and NK cells, converting immunologically “cold” tumours into “hot” inflamed environments.
Immune Activation and Recruitment
IMANs directly kill tumour cells using innate neutrophil cytotoxic mechanisms, enabling them to target heterogeneous tumours and antigen-escape variants.
Antigen-Independent Tumour Killing
IMANs avoid many of the issues that limit effectiveness of other neutrophil therapies
Maintained Functional Activity
IMANs are produced using a scalable, GMP-ready manufacturing process that supports consistent product quality.
Predictable, Scalable Manufacturing
Our Platform at a Glance
