Creative BioMart is a well-known expert who is committed to developing a variety of protein therapies to improve the effectiveness and safety of protein therapy, and to allow the production of new types of proteins and effects. With years of experience, we provide customized services for cytokines and their receptors as protein therapeutics to precisely meet customer requirements.

Introduction of Therapeutic Cytokines and Receptors

Cytokines are immunomodulatory proteins involved in many pathological states and have potential as therapeutic agents. Beginning in the 1920s, as more cytokines were identified and recombinant protein production became possible, interest in the therapeutic application of cytokines greatly increased. Cytokines and their receptors have emerged as candidates for drug or drug target development, playing important roles in promoting, limiting or modifying infections, allergies, autoimmunity and other disease states. For example, studies have found that interferon enhances cell function, modulates the immune system and inhibits cell division with anti-tumor activity in the body. Cytokines are used in immunodeficiency infections and cancer therapy. In conclusion, cytokines offer an exciting alternative to traditional therapies as natural mediators of immune responses.

Fig 1. Major design parameters of polymeric matrices used in cytokine theraapies and their applications. (Pires I S, et al., 2018)

Services

Cytokines and their receptors play central roles in many key biological processes involved in human disease mechanisms. Engineered selective cytokine therapy could fundamentally improve the treatment paradigm for cancer and inflammatory diseases. As a leading service provider of protein engineering, Creative BioMart has established a powerful cytokines-based protein therapeutics platform to discover and develop engineered derivatives of therapeutically relevant natural cytokines. In addition, we engineered wild-type cytokines to alter the response and optimize activity relying on structural information on cytokine ligand/receptor interactions. These carefully engineered proteins provide tunable agonism of cytokine signaling while minimizing undesired activity.

Cytokine pleiotropy results in limited efficacy, dose-limiting toxicity, and a narrow therapeutic window. Given this challenge, our scientists have developed a number of approaches to reduce therapeutic toxicity while maintaining or enhancing therapeutic efficacy. Based on the protein engineering platform, we develop the following cytokine delivery strategies for you to choose, including but not limited to:

• Sequence modifications: we mutate or modify protein sequences so that these mutations act to increase or decrease binding to cellular receptors, resulting in a more selective effect of the desired cytokine.
• Fusion proteins: we fuse cytokines to targeting or functional proteins to alter their localization or introduce new functions to the protein. Cytokine fusion proteins include immunotoxins, tumor antigen cytokine fusion proteins, immune cytokines, non-antibody targeting motif fusion proteins, Fc fusion proteins and albumin fusion proteins, etc.
• Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) conjugation: we combine cytokines with PEG to increase therapeutic efficacy or improve cytokine pharmacokinetics.
• Polymer matrices: a modular design space based on polymer matrices to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of cytokines by providing spatiotemporal control over their release.
• Microparticles: we utilized two types of microparticles (lipid-based microparticles and solid polymer microparticles) to prolong cytokine delivery.
• Nanoparticles: nanoparticles increase cytokine circulating half-life and control drug release and/or activation.

These engineering strategies of ours aim to improve the therapeutic application of cytokines. We design new molecules that take advantage of these core immunomodulatory activities while minimizing their undesirable properties, thereby creating new medicines for unmet medical needs. We will work with you to develop the most appropriate strategy and provide the most meaningful data for your research for accelerating the research of life sciences. If you are interested in our services, please do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

Reference

1. Pires I S, Hammond P T, Irvine D J. (2021) Engineering Strategies for Immunomodulatory Cytokine Therapies: Challenges and Clinical Progress. Advanced Therapeutics. 2100035.

• Engineering of Therapeutic Antibodies
• Engineering of Therapeutic Coagulation Factors
• Engineering of Therapeutic Enzyme
• Engineering of Therapeutic Major Histocompatibility Complex Proteins
• Engineering of Therapeutic Protein Hormones
• Engineering of Therapeutic T Cell Receptors
• Engineering of Therapeutic TCR-Like Antibodies