Eradicating cancer cells while inducing immunogenic cell death

Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is increasingly recognized as a powerful mechanism for treating solid tumors because it transforms tumor destruction into an immune-activating event rather than a silent one. Unlike conventional cytotoxic cell death, ICD is characterized by the release of tumor antigens alongside danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) such as HMGB1, ATP, and calreticulin. These signals recruit and activate antigen-presenting cells, particularly dendritic cells, which then process tumor antigens and prime tumor-specific T cells. In solid tumors that are often immunologically “cold,” this process can convert an immune-excluded microenvironment into one that is inflamed and permissive to durable antitumor immunity, addressing a key limitation of many existing therapies.

ADZE1.C, our lead oncolytic immunotherapy, is designed to induce precisely this form of immunogenic cell death within the tumor. By selectively infecting and lysing cancer cells, ADZE1.C causes localized tumor destruction while simultaneously releasing a broad repertoire of patient-specific tumor antigens in the context of viral danger signals. The presence of viral pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), combined with ICD-associated DAMPs, drives robust innate immune activation, including type I interferon signaling and dendritic cell maturation. This process effectively turns the patient’s own tumor into an in situ vaccine, initiating a systemic immune response that extends beyond the injected lesion.

Crucially, the immune activation triggered by ADZE1.C has the potential to recruit and educate the patient’s adaptive immune system, generating tumor-specific CD8⁺ and CD4⁺ T-cell responses capable of long-term immune surveillance. Once primed, these adaptive immune cells can recognize and eliminate residual tumor cells and distant metastases, supporting durable clinical responses and reducing the risk of relapse. By leveraging immunogenic cell death to engage the full breadth of the adaptive immune response, ADZE1.C aims not only to shrink tumors locally, but to establish lasting, memory-driven immunity against the patient’s own cancer—an outcome that represents a central goal of modern cancer immunotherapy.