OmpA-mDR18

OmpA-mDR18 is an engineered live bacterial immunotherapeutic consisting of the non-pathogenic *Escherichia coli* strain K-12 DH5α modified to surface-display a murine decoy-resistant interleukin-18 (IL-18) mutein (mDR18). Developed by researchers at Northeastern University and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the therapy utilizes a lipoprotein-outer membrane protein A (Lpp-OmpA) scaffold to anchor the cytokine to the bacterial outer membrane. This platform exploits the natural tumor tropism and facultative anaerobic properties of *E. coli* to deliver immune-activating payloads directly to the tumor microenvironment. The mDR18 payload is specifically engineered to maintain high affinity for the IL-18 receptor while resisting neutralization by the endogenous IL-18 binding protein (IL-18BP). In preclinical models, OmpA-mDR18 has demonstrated the ability to induce potent CD8+ T cell and natural killer (NK) cell-dependent anti-tumor responses, leading to tumor regression, abscopal effects, and the establishment of long-term immunologic memory.

Other names

engineered E. coli K-12 DH5α displaying mDR18mDR18-displaying E. colimDR-18-displaying E. colimDR 18-displaying E. colimurine decoy-resistant IL18 mutein-displaying E. coli