Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), used in cancer treatment, identify "normal" or wild-type proteins that are expressed in specific types of cells. This makes mAbs a versatile therapeutic tool that can be used to treat a wide range of patients. One of PRIMA's central objectives is to apply this principle to T-cell receptor (TCR) based therapy.
Unlike mAbs, TCRs have the ability to target proteins inside the cell because HLA molecules present peptides from proteins found in any part of the cell. This vastly increases the number of potential TCR targets. We employ a distinctive, systematic approach to identify potential targets (peptide-HLA) and a collection of TCRs and mAb-based TCR-mimetics that can specifically recognize these targets
