Rony Dahan, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow The Rockefeller University

Checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapies (checkpoints) have helped many, but unfortunately not all, patients overcome advanced cancer. To help the remaining patients, we need a better understanding of how checkpoints work and what aids their effectiveness. Dr. Dahan is doing just that, by determining the differences between anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 checkpoints. While the “active ends” of both of these drugs target the pro-tumor PD-1 pathway, Dr. Dahan found that their “back ends” also impact their effectiveness: anti-PD-1 drugs work less well when their “back ends” are bound and activated, while it makes anti-PD-L1 drugs work better. This important knowledge should allow doctors to refine their treatment strategies with current checkpoint inhibitors, and possibly even pave the way for the development new checkpoint designs that further improve the anti-cancer activity of T cells.

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