Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 21, 2026

Tuning Degradation to Achieve Specific and Efficient Protein Depletion
Published on: July 20, 2019
Recent advances with Treg depleting fusion protein toxins for cancer immunotherapy
Pankaj Kumar1,2, Amit Kumar1, Sadiya Parveen1
1Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
T regulatory cells (Tregs) are an important T cell population for immune tolerance, prevention of autoimmune diseases and inhibition of antitumor immunity. The tumor-promoting role played by Tregs in cancer has prompted numerous approaches to develop immunotherapeutics targeting Tregs. One approach to depletion of Treg cells is retargeting the highly potent cytotoxic activity of bacterial toxins. These agents capitalize on the well-characterized bacterial toxins, diphtheria toxin and Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A-both of which harbor membrane translocation domains and enzymatic domains that catalytically halt protein synthesis within intoxicated eukaryotic cells and act at picomolar or subpicomolar concentrations. In this review, we summarize the preclinical and clinical development of several Treg-depleting cancer immunotherapies based on these two bacterial toxins.
T regulatory cells (Tregs) are an important T cell population for immune tolerance, prevention of autoimmune diseases and inhibition of antitumor immunity. The tumor-promoting role played by Tregs in cancer has prompted numerous approaches to develop immunotherapeutics targeting Tregs. One approach to depletion of Treg cells is retargeting the highly potent cytotoxic activity of bacterial toxins. These agents capitalize on the well-characterized bacterial toxins, diphtheria toxin and Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A-both of which harbor membrane translocation domains and enzymatic domains that catalytically halt protein synthesis within intoxicated eukaryotic cells and act at picomolar or subpicomolar concentrations. In this review, we summarize the preclinical and clinical development of several Treg-depleting cancer immunotherapies based on these two bacterial toxins.
Related Concept Videos
Tagging and Fusion Proteins
Nuclear Fusion
A helium nucleus has a mass that is 0.7% less than that of four hydrogen nuclei; this lost mass is converted into energy during the fusion. This reaction produces about...
Tumor Immunotherapy
Types of Toxins
Air pollutants, primarily gases, pose significant threats to respiratory health, leading to conditions like hypoxia, lung cancer, and in extreme cases, death.
Environmental pollutants like...
MOSFET: Depletion Mode
The primary characteristic of depletion-mode MOSFETs is their ability to conduct current between the drain and source terminals without gate bias. This inherent conductivity...
Extraction: Advanced Methods

