George Mason University researchers have discovered the exact location where two proteins responsible for hiding cancer cells from the immune system bind. This discovery provides a novel approach to developing new cancer immunotherapy medicines that can be administered as a pill, compared to existing intravenous therapeutics. The findings were published in July 2019 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
According to Amanda Haymond, lead author on the study and researcher in the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine and Institute for Biohealth Innovation, the discovery was made possible by an in-house developed protein-painting technology, funded by the National Cancer Institute's Innovative Molecular Analysis technology (IMAT) program.
"The goal of IMAT is to support the creation of novel technologies that enable scientists to make transformative discoveries in cancer research that were not possible before," Tony Dickherber, director of the IMAT program, said.
