Our AMP platform
a differentiated approach to immunotherapy
We are addressing the challenge of direct lymph node engagement with next-generation immunotherapies based on our AMP platform. This platform allows us to develop numerous differentiated treatment modalities including therapeutic vaccines, adjuvants, and our proprietary cell therapy AMPlifiers. Our AMP platform is intended to deliver conventional immunomodulatory payloads including peptides, proteins and nucleic acids directly and preferentially to the lymph node, which can facilitate interaction with the various components of the adaptive immune system. In our preclinical studies, these interactions result in an enhanced therapeutic immune response. This lymph node-targeting technology may have the potential to be broadly applicable to address significant unmet medical needs.
An amphiphile is a chemical compound with both hydrophilic, or water soluble, and lipophilic, or lipid soluble, properties. This distinction is central to the development of our AMP platform. Of critical importance to our AMP platform is its use of endogenous albumin as the carrier molecule. Albumin is a large 66.5 kD molecule that has multiple roles that are important to maintaining healthy functioning, including stabilizing extracellular fluid volume and functioning as a carrier protein for a variety of compounds including drugs, thyroid hormones and fatty acids. In addition to being present in the serum in blood plasma, albumin is quite abundant in the interstitial fluid of the tissues, where it drains through the lymphatic capillaries and vessels of the body, passing through numerous lymph nodes prior to exiting through the subclavian vein and returning to the blood system. As such, endogenous albumin and its ubiquitous presence in the tissues may make it an ideal carrier to transport immune therapies and vaccines to the lymph nodes.
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