Scientific Basis

The immune system relies on antigen presentation to distinguish healthy cells from abnormal ones.

MHC Class I molecules present intracellular peptides on the cell surface. When this process functions correctly, cytotoxic T cells can recognize and eliminate malignant cells.

Cancer cells often disrupt this process through reduced MHC Class I expression, altered peptide presentation, or impairment of antigen processing machinery.

These changes allow tumors to become effectively invisible to the immune system.

Our scientific focus is on restoring accurate MHC Class I presentation in tumor cells.

Rather than stimulating immune activity broadly, we seek to correct the signal that enables immune recognition.

This approach is based on the principle that immune clearance often fails due to signaling disruption, not immune absence.

The program emphasizes direct measurement of target engagement.

Primary scientific validation focuses on restoration of tumor surface MHC Class I expression with intact B2M.

Secondary validation evaluates tumor-localized cytotoxic T cell engagement and downstream molecular response.

This layered approach prioritizes mechanistic clarity over surrogate outcomes.

Not all tumors are suitable for this approach.

Tumors with irreversible loss of antigen presentation machinery or profound immune exclusion may not respond.

These constraints are treated as design parameters rather than exceptions.