Is Retifanlimab an immunosuppressant?

Retifanlimab (Retifanlimab) is not an immunosuppressant, but an immune checkpoint inhibitor. To better understand this issue, we need to clarify the difference between immunosuppressants and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Immunosuppressants are often used to treat overactive immune systems or autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or rejection after an organ transplant. The mechanism of action of immunosuppressants is to reduce the immune response by suppressing the activity of the immune system, thereby preventing the immune system from attacking the body's own healthy tissues.

However, as an immune checkpoint inhibitor, the mechanism of action of riflimab is exactly opposite to that of immunosuppressants. The goal of immune checkpoint inhibitors is to relieve the suppression of the immune system by tumor cells, thereby enhancing the immune system's response to tumors. Riflimab "activates" the immune system, especially the anti-tumor effect of T cells, by blocking the binding of programmed death receptor -1 (PD-1) and its ligand PD-L1. PD-1 is an important negative regulatory receptor in the immune system. Cancer cells inhibit the response of the immune system by binding to the PD-1 receptor, making immune cells unable to effectively recognize and attack tumors. Riflimab breaks this "immune escape" mechanism by inhibiting the combination of PD-1 and PD-L1, thereby enhancing the body's immune response and effectively attacking and eliminating tumor cells.

This mechanism of Riflimab is a breakthrough in tumor immunotherapy. By blocking the PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway, it can reactivate T cells and enhance their anti-cancer function. Especially for patients whose tumor cells evade immune surveillance through PD-L1, reflimab provides a new treatment option. It works very differently from traditional immunosuppressants and therefore cannot be classified as an immunosuppressant.

Reference materials:https://www.drugs.com/mtm/retifanlimab.html