LUND, Sweden, June 27, 2026
Cantargia AB announced the publication of new preclinical and clinical findings in JCI Insight, highlighting IL1RAP as a promising therapeutic target and predictive biomarker in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The research combines data from the company’s CANFOUR clinical trial evaluating nadunolimab (CAN04) with laboratory studies conducted in collaboration with researchers at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The findings demonstrate that IL1RAP plays a central role in tumor progression, treatment resistance, and modulation of the tumor microenvironment, supporting the continued clinical development of nadunolimab as a potential treatment for patients with aggressive pancreatic cancer.
Preclinical Studies Show Nadunolimab Enhances Chemoimmunotherapy Response
The published research demonstrated that a mouse surrogate antibody of nadunolimab significantly inhibited tumor growth in a highly aggressive KRAS-mutated PDAC preclinical model. Researchers observed substantial remodeling of the tumor microenvironment, making tumors more responsive to chemoimmunotherapy, which typically has little or no activity in this disease model. The study suggests that targeting IL1RAP-expressing myeloid and stromal cell networks removes a major therapeutic barrier, allowing chemotherapy and immunotherapy to produce stronger anti-tumor responses. These findings reinforce the scientific rationale for combining nadunolimab with other treatment approaches to improve outcomes in difficult-to-treat pancreatic cancer.
Clinical Data Identify IL1RAP as a Predictive Biomarker in PDAC
Analysis of human pancreatic tumor samples further confirmed that IL1RAP expression is elevated within the tumor microenvironment and is particularly enriched in tumors from patients who develop treatment resistance. Importantly, tumor samples collected from patients enrolled in the CANFOUR trial, where nadunolimab was administered alongside gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel, showed that high IL1RAP expression in stromal and immune cells correlated with longer duration of response. These clinical observations suggest that IL1RAP could serve as a valuable predictive biomarker, helping identify patients most likely to benefit from nadunolimab-based combination therapies while providing a new strategy to overcome resistance in pancreatic cancer.
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Future Clinical Development Expands Across Multiple PDAC Settings
Building on these findings, Cantargia is advancing plans for additional clinical studies evaluating nadunolimab in combination with emerging RAS inhibitors, which are increasingly expected to become a foundation for second-line metastatic PDAC treatment. At the same time, investigators at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center are preparing an investigator-initiated neoadjuvant clinical trial to evaluate nadunolimab combined with chemoimmunotherapy in patients with operable pancreatic cancer. Together, the newly published data provide strong scientific support for IL1RAP-targeted therapy, positioning nadunolimab as a promising immunotherapy candidate capable of improving treatment sensitivity and expanding therapeutic options for patients with one of the most aggressive forms of cancer.
Source: Cantargia press release
