Company: IOBT
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-047744
Chunk: 9

Company: IO Biotech, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 9
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 shift in the management of cancer and that our product candidates have the potential to become cornerstones of combination treatment regimens of multiple solid tumors. Our T-win platform is built upon our team’s deep understanding of both the TME and a tumor’s ability to evade surveillance and destruction by the immune system. 

10

The Role of the Immune System in Fighting Cancer 

The Immune System 

The immune system is a dynamic and self-regulating network of cells and molecules that cooperate to help the body fight disease. It is able to detect pathogens and can distinguish abnormal cells, such as tumor cells, from healthy tissue. The immune system has evolved to detect such dangers to the body through the detection of molecules or molecular structures called antigens. When exposed to pathogens or abnormal cells, the immune system responds by recognition of antigens and becomes activated to defend against them. The first line of biological defense is a general, rapid response by the innate immune system which is essential for immediate recognition and attack of pathogens as well as tumor cells. This innate response then activates and triggers a more targeted response by the adaptive immune system. Through such adaptive immune responses, the body can develop long-term immunity, or immunologic memory, to specific pathogens and other threats. Immunologic memory is established through generation of specific B cells and T cells, equipping the body to recognize, counteract and neutralize pathogens and other threats, such as cancer cells.

The intricate system of how immune cells interact and propagate a signal to elicit an immune response in cancer is known as tumor immune regulation. Successful antitumor immunity requires optimal interactions between immune and non-immune constituents of the TME. The immune system comprises both activating and suppressing functions built up by a myriad of different cell types. These various immune cells function to activate or suppress immune activity. We have described some of the key cellular factors contributing to anti-tumor immunity below and have classified them as immune activators or immune suppressors. However, many of these cell types can differentiate and acquire distinct functions in response to changing circumstances, known as cellular plasticity, which allows cells to switch from being immune activating to immune suppressing, or the reverse, based on certain immune triggers. 

11

The Key Immune Activators and Suppressors in Anti-tumor Responses 

    Cell types
    Immune Activators
    Immune Suppressors

    Antigen Presenting Cells (“APCs”)A group of immune cell types that mediate cellular immune responses by processing and presenting antigens to lymphocytes.
    Macrophages and