Precision oncology company Parthenon Therapeutics has had an article published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC) that identified key characteristics and issues relevant to the role immune exclusion plays in resistance to checkpoint therapy. The work was performed in collaboration with multiple US and international academic institutions. Parthenon recently initiated a Phase 1 trial for its lead candidate PRTH-101 first-in-human clinical trial in patients with immune-excluded solid tumors. PRTH-101 is a therapeutic antibody that specifically binds to and blocks DDR1, a protein expressed on tumor cells that makes a minimally permeable physical barrier that blocks immune cells from interacting with and attacking tumor cells. Tumor types which show particularly high levels of DDR1-associated collagen barriers include colorectal, ovarian, and non-small cell lung cancer.