Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:XBIO) ("Xenetic" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company focused on advancing innovative immuno-oncology technologies addressing difficult to treat cancers, today announced it has executed a 4-month extension of its collaboration with The Scripps Research Institute ("Scripps Research") and the lab of Dr. Alexey Stepanov, Institute Investigator at Scripps Research effective November 1, 2025, to advance the development of the Company's research and development program evaluating the combination of systemic DNase I and CAR T-cell therapies.
Xenetic's systemic DNase I candidate, XBIO-015, is currently in preclinical development in combination with CAR-T cell therapy for both hematologic and solid tumors. Studies conducted by Dr. Stepanov and his lab at Scripps Research using lymphoma, metastatic melanoma and leukemia models have shown that co-administration of DNase I with CAR-T cells significantly reduces tumor burden, decreases metastatic lesions, and markedly extends survival compared to CAR-T cell monotherapy. Importantly, systemic DNase I-mediated degrading of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) enhances CAR-T cell efficacy, increasing the infiltration of both CAR-T cells and endogenous T cells into tumors and by mitigating the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME).