CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cue Biopharma , Inc., (NASDAQ: CUE) an innovative immunotherapy company developing a novel, proprietary class of biologics engineered to selectively modulate the human immune system to treat cancer, autoimmune and chronic infectious diseases, announced today that it will be presenting an update at the BIO CEO & Investor Conference on Tuesday, February 12, 2019, at 10:00 am ET (Hudson/Empire Room), at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel, NY.  Daniel Passeri, M.Sc., J.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, will provide an overview of the Company's Immuno-STAT™ platform and development strategy as well as pre-clinical data updates on key programs and anticipated milestones. A live and archived version of the webcast will be available at http://www.veracast.com/webcasts/bio/ceoinves...329099.cfm . The presentation will also be archived for 30 days on the Investors section of the Company's website at www.cuebio.com .

About CUE-100 Framework Drug candidates developed within the CUE-100 framework are designed to selectively target tumor-specific T cells with interleukin 2 (IL-2), which is critical to the activation, expansion and survival of T cells. We have exploited rational protein engineering to select for a biologic framework that incorporates peptide-MHC complexes (pMHC), to target T cell receptors (TCRs), along with selective deployment of the IL-2 signal. The binding affinity of IL-2 for its receptor has been attenuated to achieve preferential selective activation of tumor specific T-cells without broad, systemic activation, potentially mitigating the dose-limiting toxicities associated with current IL-2-based therapies.

The lead program from the CUE-100 framework, CUE-101, contains IL-2 and a pMHC composed of HLA-A*02:01 complexed with a dominant peptide derived from the human papilloma virus E7 protein (HPV-E7). The drug is a fusion protein biologic designed to target and activate antigen-specific T cells to attack HPV-driven cancers.

About Immuno-STATs Immuno-STAT Biologics are designed for targeted modulation of disease-associated T cells in the areas of immuno-oncology, autoimmune and chronic infectious disease. Each of our biologic drugs is designed using our proprietary scaffold comprising: 1) a peptide-MHC complex (pMHC) to provide selectivity through the pMHC T-cell receptor (TCR) interaction, and 2) a unique co-stimulatory signaling molecule to modulate the activity of the target T cells.

The simultaneous engagement of co-stimulatory molecules and pMHC binding mimics the signals delivered by antigen presenting cells (APCs) to T cells during a natural immune response. This design enables Immuno-STAT Biologics to engage with the T cell population of interest, resulting in highly targeted T cell modulation. Because our drugs are delivered in vivo, they are fundamentally different from other T cell therapeutic approaches such as Adoptive Cell Therapy (ACT), which require the patients’ T cells to be extracted, then stimulated and expanded outside the body (ex vivo) and reinfused in an activated state.

About Cue Biopharma Cue Biopharma is an innovative immunotherapy company developing a novel, proprietary class of biologics engineered to selectively modulate the human immune system to treat a broad range of cancers, autoimmune and chronic infectious diseases. We design biologics to engage and modulate the activity of disease-associated T cells in the patient’s body, with the goal of offering significant therapeutic benefits while potentially minimizing or eliminating unwanted side effects.

We believe our selective biologics allow us to target antigen-specific T cell populations in a variety of indications using a peptide – MHC complex for delivering T cell modulating effectors, such as IL-2. Once a biologic has been optimized, our approach offers the potential for readily exchanging peptides to target different T cell populations and indications using previously-validated drug frameworks developed from the Immuno-STAT TM  (Selective Targeting and Alteration of T cells) platform. This flexibility could truncate the drug selection and development process, moving effective therapeutics from discovery to clinical validation more rapidly and cost-efficiently than current industry standards.

Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, we are led by an experienced management team and scientific and clinical advisory board (SAB/CAB) with deep expertise in the design and clinical development of protein biologics, immunology and immuno-oncology.

For more information, visit  www.cuebio.com .

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Investor Contact: John Woolford Westwicke Partners 443-213-0506

Media Contact: Mike Beyer Sam Brown Inc. 312-961-2502