Immunotherapy in cancer treatment

How can the immune system recognise cancer cells

• Tumour-specific neoantigens

• overexpressed tumour-associated antigens

• stress-induced surface molecules

  • abnormal antigen presentation

How can cancer cells bypass immune response?

• Reducing antigen expression

• recruiting immunosuppressive cells

  • driving T-cell dysfunction

How do T cells get stimulated to become activated

They interact with antigen presenting cells (APCs).

why is immune homeostasis important and what happens if immune system is uncontrolled

it is critical for human survival, and if uncontrolled can lead to inflammatory damage and autoimmune disease.

How is the immune response regulated

by different stimulatory and inhibitory signals which are enabled by several checkpoints, specific molecules (receptors) on immune cells that require activation and inactivation.

what do activating signals promote

• T-cell proliferation

• cytokine production

  • cytotoxic activity

what do inhibitory checkpoints limit

• excessive inflammation

• tissue damage

• autoimmunity

  • prolonged immune activation

what happens when cytotoxic T cells become activated

they express multiple inhibitory and stimulatory receptors on their surface.

difference between activation of inhibitory vs stimulatory

INHIBITORY: suppress immune response

STIMULATORY: trigger immune response

Pharmaceutical limitations of immune checkpoint inhibitors

• Poor oral bioavailability

• limited passive diffusion into tissues

pharmaceutical properties of checkpoint inhibitor antibodies

High molecular mass

slow distribution compared with the small molecules

low oral bioavailability

Long dosing intervals

What does the IgG half life depend on and what needs to be modified in order to modify half life of the IgG

The Fc region