CD70

Class

Anti-CD70 monoclonal antibody

Pathway

CD70?CD27 signalling

Notes

Source: https://www.oncoverity.com/our-science/cusatuzumab/

CD70 is a cell-surface protein belonging to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family of signaling molecules. Its natural binding partner, CD27, sits on immune cells such as T cells and natural killer cells, and the CD70–CD27 interaction normally provides a brief costimulatory signal that helps activate and expand immune responses. In healthy tissue, CD70 expression is tightly restricted to brief windows of immune activation. In several cancers, including certain leukemias, lymphomas, and renal cell carcinoma, tumor cells display CD70 persistently, using it to evade or exploit immune signaling and, in some cases, to sustain their own survival through signaling back onto CD27-expressing cancer cells. Because CD70 is largely absent from normal resting tissue, it represents an attractive target for antibody-based therapies: agents that bind CD70 can flag these cells for destruction by the immune system while sparing most healthy tissue. Monoclonal antibodies against CD70 can act by blocking the CD70–CD27 interaction, by recruiting immune effector cells to destroy CD70-bearing tumor cells, or, in more engineered antibody formats, by physically bridging tumor cells to cytotoxic T cells for direct killing. This mechanism is relevant broadly across hematologic malignancies and certain solid tumors where CD70 overexpression has been documented.