LIGHT (TNFSF14)

Class

anti-LIGHT monoclonal antibody (quisovalimab)

Pathway

TNF-superfamily co-stimulatory cytokine implicated in non-eosinophilic/neutrophilic airway inflammation

LIGHT (also called TNFSF14) is a signaling protein belonging to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily, a group of molecules that cells use to instruct each other during immune responses. LIGHT is displayed on activated T cells and other immune cells and acts as a co-stimulatory signal, amplifying immune and inflammatory activity when it engages its receptors on target cells. Unlike many inflammatory mediators that drive eosinophilic (allergic-type) inflammation, LIGHT has been linked to non-eosinophilic, neutrophilic patterns of airway inflammation, a category of lung disease that responds poorly to therapies designed for allergic asthma. By binding and neutralizing LIGHT, an antibody can dampen this co-stimulatory signal before it triggers downstream tissue inflammation and remodeling. This mechanism is of interest in respiratory diseases where inflammation is severe but not primarily allergic in character, since it addresses a distinct biological subtype that current anti-inflammatory approaches often leave inadequately controlled. Because LIGHT also participates in broader immune cell communication, therapies targeting it are being explored as a way to interrupt a specific arm of inflammatory signaling without broadly suppressing the entire immune system. The overall rationale is to match a distinct inflammatory driver to a therapy designed specifically for it.