11 Aug 2025
A new study shows how the single-molecule organization of receptors in a cellular context determines the function of antibodies, opening up new pathways for the development of cancer immunotherapies.
Therapeutic antibodies have transformed cancer treatment, yet the exact molecular mechanisms that drive their therapeutic effects have remained elusive. A team led by Ralf Jungmann (Chair Professor for Molecular Physics of Life at LMU and leader of the Molecular Imaging and Bionanotechnology research group at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry) has now taken an unprecedented look at how therapeutic antibodies reshape receptor organization at the single-molecule level, and how this affects the function of the antibodies.