Rupal S. Bhatt, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, clinical fellow, Hematology-Oncology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discusses the potential identification of a pathway of resistance for PD-L1 in renal cell carcinoma.

To study the pathways, Bhatt and her team developed antibodies to inhibit the HHLA2 signal. An inhibitory and stimulatory receptor was found in HHLA2, which Bhatt compares with the CD28 and CTLA-4 pathways.

Bhatt and her team hypothesize that antibodies will block the inhibitory receptor signal but preserve the stimulatory receptor signal, which could be a novel therapeutic in kidney cancer. In the next few years, the goal is to test a panel of antibodies against HHLA2 in the receptors to understand more about the function, study the utility of HHLA2 as a biomarker, and begin a phase I clinical trial with the appropriate antibody target, concludes Bhatt.

Videos

Rupal S. Bhatt, MD, PhD, discusses the potential identification of a pathway of resistance for PD-L1 in renal cell carcinoma.

Dr. Bhatt on Finding a PD-L1 Pathway of Resistance in RCC

Rupal S. Bhatt, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, clinical fellow, Hematology-Oncology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discusses the discovery of HHLA2/KIR3DL3, a novel therapeutic immune checkpoint pathway in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Bhatt explains that this pathway is homologous to PD-L1; it also has similar stimulatory and inhibitory function to that of the CD28 and CTLA-4 pathway. 

However, its expression appears to be different than PD-L1 and it is a different target. If able to achieve dual or alternate targeting in RCC, investigators may be able to develop new combination therapies.

The field of RCC has seen a great deal of growth over recent years, says Bhatt. As more developments lead to new standards of care for patients, the hope is that the integration of this treatment as either a single-agent or in combination may prove effective.  

Rupal S. Bhatt, MD, PhD, discusses the discovery of HHLA2/KIR3DL3, a novel therapeutic immune checkpoint pathway in renal cell carcinoma.

Rupal S. Bhatt, MD, PhD

Articles

Dr. Bhatt on Finding a PD-L1 Pathway of Resistance in RCC

Dr. Bhatt on Identification of Immune Checkpoint Pathway in RCC