Amplimmune: Blocking Immune Evasion

Amplimmune Inc. is working on circumventing one of the mechanisms used by cancer and infected cells to evade the immune system. By preventing receptors from binding with ligands that disable T cell activation, the company thinks it can raise T cell responses against a broad range of cancers and viral infections.

Specifically, the company is looking to block the interaction between programmed cell death 1 (PDCD1; PD-1; CD279), which is expressed on the surface of activated T and B lymphocytes, and PD-1 ligand 1 (PD-L1; CD274 molecule; B7-H1), which is expressed in many tissues and organs and is present in serum...