Keytruda® pembrolizumab is an approved treatment for multiple cancer indications. Given the clinical impact of pembrolizumab and the continuing research to improve PD-1-related immunotherapies, better understanding of the molecule's preclinical characterization is important. Pembrolizumab binds to human PD-1 with picomolar affinity and antagonizes the binding of both PD-L1 and PD-L2 to PD-1, a key feature of its clinical mechanism of action. Pembrolizumab binds via the HCDR3 loop to both the C'D and FG loop. of PD-1. The affinity of pembrolizumab is hypothesized to be due to this binding epitope, which is distinct from other anti-PD-1 agents.

Metastatic bone lesions are present in 20-35% of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and severely impact patient mobility and survival. Previous research by Pan and colleagues identified that a transforming growth factor-beta-inducing protein ig-h3 (Beta ig-h3) (BIGH3) suppresses osteoblast differentiation and prevents the healing of these osteolytic regions. Here, they demonstrate that stimulating...

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