Next-wave Th1 cytokine cancer therapies aim for more precise targeting

A growing list of cytokine therapies have been designed to boost cytotoxic immune responses against cancer while sidestepping the limitations of past candidates by controlling where the molecules do and don’t act.

The momentum is particularly strong for cytokines that promote, or are produced by, a subset of CD4⁺ helper T cells known as “Th1” cells. Supplementing and amplifying the activity of these cells offers a way to “step on the gas” of antitumor immunity, a strategy increasingly seen as an important complement to checkpoint inhibitors that “release the brakes.”...