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Pilatus Biosciences Advances Liver Cancer Treatment with PLT012 Immunotherapy

Bio Tech

Business Honor - PLT012 Immunotherapy for Liver Cancer

Business Honor
16 August, 2025

Pilatus Biosciences advances cancer treatment with PLT012, targeting tumor microenvironment reprogramming for liver cancer.

Pilatus Biosciences, the biotech innovator, is working on cancer immunotherapy with its most advanced candidate, PLT012. Designed to target the fibrotic and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) that is typical of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), PLT012 could transform liver cancer treatment. PLT012 is designed to target CD36, a lipid scavenger receptor that is overexpressed in immune cells of inflammatory, lipid-rich environments, proven to downregulate immune responses within solid tumors.

By inhibiting CD36-dependent lipid uptake, PLT012 decreases intratumoral regulatory T cells (Tregs) and tumor-promoting macrophages but increases the activity and persistence of CD8-positive cytotoxic T cells. This TME reprogramming has strong potential to greatly enhance immune activation, bringing new hope to patients who typically experience only meager gains from current treatments such as checkpoint inhibitors.

In preclinical models, PLT012 has demonstrated encouraging monotherapy activity, producing robust effects in liver cancer models, and a clean safety profile in species. Its new mechanism also makes it a candidate sensitizer in combination with anti-PD-L1 treatments, targeting resistance in immunologically cold tumors and liver metastases. This lends it an advantage in a more congested oncology landscape.

Founded in 2022 as a spin-out of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Pilatus is innovative immunometabolic oncology. Despite stiff competition from the likes of Spain's Ona Therapeutics and Distillery Therapeutics, Pilatus's novel approach in cancer immunotherapy has the potential to revolutionize treatment paradigms. With its promising findings, PLT012 has the potential to emerge as a key player in preventing cancer's resistance to immune therapies within the not-too-distant future.