Researchers at the University of Southampton have developed a promising new way to bolster the body’s immune system response to cancer. They used specially engineered multi-pronged antibodies to better activate immune response to cancer-killing T cells. The antibodies work by ‘grabbing’ and ‘clustering’ multiple immune cell receptors, thereby boosting the signal that tells the T cell to attack the cancer. They did this by focusing on an immune receptor called CD27, which needs a matching key (ligand) to activate T cells. This ligand is produced naturally in response to infection, but cancers lack this signal and T cells can only elicit a weak response against the cancer cells. Four-pronged antibodies revolutionise immune response Antibodies can work a bit like a master key, but the most commonly used antibodies are Y-shaped molecules with two prongs, meaning they can engage only two receptors at the same time. While antibodies have revolutionised cancer treatment, some cancers don’t respond because T cells don’t receive all the signals they need to become fully active. The antibodies developed by the researchers …