Key applications
Immunotherapy of cancer
Activation of immune cells by TLR3 ligands such as RIBOXXIM, APOXXIM, RIBOXXON and RIBOXXOL aims at eliminating cancer cells from the organism. Elimination of cancer cells occurs through direct killing by activated immune cells such as Natural Killer cells and/or CD8+ T lymphocytes. In both cases, additional immune cells (so called CD4 T-Helper cells, and dendritic cells) play a determinant role in mounting the immune response against cancer cells.
This very brief and schematic description defines the key players in the immune response against cancer: NK cells, T lymphocytes, and dendritic cells.
TLR3 ligands such as RIBOXXIM strongly activate NK cells, T lymphocytes, and dendritic cells. Therefore, TLR3 ligands have direct applications in immunotherapy of cancer using three major therapeutic strategies
- ex vivo maturation and activation of dendritic cells for adaptive immunotherapy of cancer
- therapeutic vaccination as first-line immunotherapy of cancer
- preventive immunotherapy of cancer recurrence.
Immunotherapy of virus disease
When a virus infects an organism, it often generates a very potent immune response against structural components of the virus. This immune response aims at clearing the virus from the body. However, because viruses are obligatory cellular parasites, the only possiblity to eliminate the virus actively is to target cells that bear the virus inside. By eliminating these cells, the virus is also elminated and the organism is cured.
In some virus infections, such as chronic Hepatitis B infection, the virus remains in the hepatocytes, and the immune cells are not able to cure the disease because they can´t eliminate the cells infected by the virus.
In such cases, a so-called therapeutic vaccine is used to clear the virus from the organism. This vaccine aims at activating T-lymphocytes, T-helper lymphocytes and dendritic cells in order to eliminate the infected cells.
TLR3 ligands such as RIBOXXOL or RIBOXXIM are here the drug of choice when used in a therapeutic vaccine in combination with antigenic substances such as proteins, peptides, or antigens specific for the virus.