Autoimmune Therapies Targeting Costimulation and Emerging Trends in Multivalent Therapeutics

Abstract

Proteins participating in immunological signaling have emerged as important targets for controlling the immune response. A multitude of receptor–ligand pairs that regulate signaling pathways of the immune response have been identified. In the complex milieu of immune signaling, therapeutic agents targeting mediators of cellular signaling often either activate an inflammatory immune response or induce tolerance. This review is primarily focused on therapeutics that inhibit the inflammatory immune response by targeting membrane-bound proteins regulating costimulation or mediating immune-cell adhesion. Many of these signals participate in larger, organized structures such as the immunological synapse. Receptor clustering and arrangement into organized structures is also reviewed and emerging trends implicating a potential role for multivalent therapeutics is posited.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have received funds from NIAID/NIH (R01-AI-063002, R016443–06 and R56AI-063002). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.