Cancer immunotherapy has revolutionized oncology. However, cures are still rare and survival rates for most cancer patients have improved only marginally over the past several decades.
Existing immunotherapies selectively activate T cells or utilize monoclonal antibodies in isolation, but they fail to coordinate all components of the immune system or direct them to specific molecular destinations in tumors.
Leukogene is in the driver’s seat of a revolutionary new approach that activates the immune system through Major Histocompatibility Complex II (MHCII).
Major Histocompatibility Complexes (MHC) play a crucial role in the immune response by presenting foreign antigens to T cells. MHC is divided into two classes, MHC class I (MHCI) and MHC class II (MHCII), each of which presents antigens to different subsets of T cells.
MHCI directly interacts with CD8+ T cells, whereas MHCII activates CD4+ helper T cells.
Much of the cancer immunotherapy field has focused on the MHCI-CD8+ axis, given the cytotoxic phenotype of CD8+ T cells and their ability to recognize and eliminate tumor cells directly. However, recent evidence has demonstrated that CD4+ T cells are essential for orchestrating an effective cancer immunotherapy response.
CD4+ T cells “help” by supporting activation and proliferation of CD8+ T cells along with other immune cells, such as macrophages, dendritic cells, B cells, and NK cells, and skew the immune system toward a tumor-suppressive phenotype.