A biopharmaceutical company, Acuro Inc.'s promising new target for cancer immunotherapy - KLRG1 - is part of the firm's effort to address development of a new generation of immuno-modulatory bio-therapeutics for treating both autoimmunity and cancer. The company uses proprietary analysis of transcriptome data from human disease to identify new approaches to target key compartments of the immune system. KLRG1 has recently emerged as an attractive target to restore anti-tumor immune function. An inhibitory receptor of T and NK cells, it functions to reduce the activity of highly differentiated immune cells by interacting with its ligands E/N cadherin. Abcuro has developed a blocking antibody directed toward KLRG1 that restores immune function. The firm is leveraging the systematic target validation and clinical insights gained by its founders to identify new targets - effectively, intensive use of bioinformatics enables interrogation of the transcriptome of human disease together with ex-vivo. validation in diseased tissue has uncovered new approaches to target key compartments of the immune system.
