Immune checkpoint antibodies

This news was updated in April 2024

Immune checkpoints are regulators of the immune system which prevent the immune system from attacking self-antigens indiscriminately. While this is critical to preventing auto-immune disease it also causes the immune system to be ineffective in eradicating or suppressing cancer.

Tumor cells exploit certain immune-checkpoint pathways as a major mechanism of immune resistance, particularly against T cells that are specific for tumor antigens. Because many of these immune checkpoints are initiated by ligand-receptor interactions, they can be readily blocked by antibodies.

Blocking these immune checkpoints allows antitumor activity to resume and is among the most promising approaches to activating therapeutic anti-tumor immunity.

Selected immune checkpoint antibodies from Bio X Cell