A new class of immunotherapeutic drugs will be designed around the IiKEY peptide to enhance or inhibit, in an MHC class II allele related manner, immune responses in several disease states. Binding of IiKEY homologs at an allosteric site alongside one end of the antigenic peptide binding groove of… More

DESCRIPTION: Suppressing the Ii protein by anti-sense oligonucleotides in MHC class Il-positive cancer cells creates a potent cancer cell vaccine. Presumably, additional determinants which are normally excluded in the ER by the Ii protein from the MHC class II… More

DESCRIPTION: Antigen Express has developed technology to force the presentation of endogenous tumor antigens in a manner that produces an effective tumor cell vaccine. The key to this strategy is the generation of tumor cells that express MHC Class II molecules in the absence of the… More

Antigen Express scientists have discovered that a segment of the Ii protein called Ii-Key, which acts at an allosteric site on one end of the antigenic peptide binding site on MHC Class II molecules, greatly enhances the binding of a tethered epitope. Linkage of such Ii-Key with a MHC class… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Antigen Express scientists have discovered that cells expressing MHC class II molecules in the absence of the MHC class II-associated Ii protein can act as effective cellular vaccines. Cells with the MHC class II+/Ii-phenotype simultaneously present endogenously… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Antigen Express scientists have demonstrated that the li-Key segment of the li protein, acting at an allosteric site of Class II molecules, facilitates charging by suitable vaccine peptides at the antigenic peptide-binding site. The potency is enhanced (>250)… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): MHC-presented peptide vaccines are one of the most promising experimental therapies for melanoma. However, MHC class I peptides that prime CTLs lack dramatic anti-tumor effect in clinical trials. Co-immunization with MHC class II peptides substantially enhances… More