Anti-Immune checkpoint proteins

Anti-Immune checkpoints Antibodies

Immune checkpoint proteins
Immune checkpoints are cell surface molecules that regulate the immune response. They are controlling immune cell signaling. They play a major role in self-tolerance and avoid autoimmunity. They act in relation to their respective receptors. Many Clusters of Differentiation proteins are among this class. The immune checkpoint proteins have a lifecycle beginning from their expression in the endoplasmic reticulum to their transport to the cell surface and further internalization and degradation or recycling. All this process can be regulated by complex mechanisms, explaining checkpoint signaling efficiency, that are currently under study.
Inhibitory and stimulatory checkpoint proteins
There are two types of Immune checkpoints, inhibitory and stimulatory, according to the type of signal they carry. The equilibrium between the expression levels of those two types determines the transmissibility of the immune signal.

The inhibitory immune checkpoints block the immune response. This is the case of Programmed cell death protein 1(PD1). This protein, if carried by a cell, will prevent the immune signaling cascade to be transmitted upon binding with its ligand Programmed death-ligand 1(PD-L1). PD-L1bearing cells can be thus protected from apoptosis.

The stimulatory immune checkpoints promote the transmission of the immune response. Among these proteins a few Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptors can be found.
Immune Checkpoint blockade
In tumor cells immune checkpoints inhibitors might be overexpressed. Therefore they can protect those cells from lysis, inducing signal suppression. Current cancer research develops a strategy against the immune checkpoints inhibitors to let immune system eliminate the cancer cells. The immune checkpoint blockade, in immunotherapy, consists in developing neutralizing anti-checkpoint protein antibodies to prevent the down regulating signal to be transmitted. This way tumor cells can be killed and the progression of cancer slowed down or stopped. Several drugs have been validated in this system targeting especially PD1 or CTLA-4. Although having more durable effect than other cancer treatment, this immunotherapy technique may have a low response in different types of cancers.

ProteoGenix offers Immune checkpoint proteins and the respective antibodies to help research strive in this promising area.