MacroGenics, a biotechnology company that develops immunotherapeutics to treat autoimmune disorders, cancer and infectious diseases, has published in the journal Blood preclinical data demonstrating potent inhibition of B-cell lymphoma through redirected T lymphocyte-mediated killing, using its bispecific DART antibody technology.

The publication compares MacroGenics' DART protein to an antibody molecule identical in specificity and structure to that of a bispecific T-cell engager (BiTER), an alternative bispecific platform.  While the previously established potency of the BiTE molecule in various redirected cytotoxicity assays was confirmed in this study, the DART was shown to be consistently more potent in eliminating CD19-positive cells.  

No activation of T-cells by the DART was observed in the absence of engagement with targeted CD19-positive cells. Moreover, a CD19xTCR DART, constructed using a proprietary anti-T cell receptor antibody fragment, revealed virtually identical in vitro activity to that of the CD19xCD3 DART and demonstrated in vivo activity in a xenograft mouse model.