Cancers sometimes escape our immune defenses because of the over-activity of molecular signaling systems, called checkpoint processes. Now we may be able to fight back using a new range of molecules, researchers in China report in the European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
A problem for T-cells
The team’s molecules act against a protein involved in checkpoint processes known as PD-L1. This molecule protrudes from the surface of cells, including cancer cells, and can bind to a protein called PD-1 carried by T-cells of the immune system. The T-cells have the potential to destroy tumor cells, which they bind to via several proteins, some of which activate the anti-tumor activity while others inhibit it.
