Researchers test new ‘covalent proximity induction’ therapeutic strategies to rescue immunotherapeutic function

Researchers with McMaster University have been putting synthetic immunotherapeutic strategies to the test in an effort to redirect the natural cancer killing function of the immune system.

Led by Anthony Rullo, associate professor in the Department of Medicine, researchers designed a new chemical strategy to enhance immune recognition of cancer cells using covalency to enhance engagement with low affinity sugar specific immune receptors

The results of their work, were published in ACS Central Science on Nov. 3, demonstrate how small bi-functional therapeutics fail to bring sugar specific antibodies to tumour cells because the therapeutic can't bind the antibody with sufficient affinity to activate anti-tumour macrophage function. Using their covalent strategy, however, function could be uniquely restored leading to targeted macrophage killing of tumor cells