Study Uncovers New Hurdle for Developing Immunotherapies

The body’s immune system is a valiant weapon against disease, and harnessing its power through a technique called immunotherapy is at the forefront of current research to treat cancer and other diseases.

That’s why an unexpected finding by University of Notre Dame researchers and their collaborators, related to the way two distinctively different peptide antigens react with one T-cell receptor (TCR), tosses a new wrench into the process of building better molecules to develop immunotherapies.

The surprising research showing peptide adaptability was published Monday (Sept. 17) in Nature Chemical Biology. Brian Baker, the John A. Zahm, C.S.C., Professor of Structural Biology and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was principal investigator on the study and worked with co-authors from Notre Dame as well as Stanford University, Loyola University and the University of Kentucky.

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