The present invention is directed to a combination therapy for the treatment of cancer and pathogen-associated diseases, that comprises the administration of: (1) a molecule (e.g., a diabody, an ScFv, an antibody, a TandAb, etc.) capable of binding PD-1 or a natural ligand of PD-1, and (2) a molecule (e.g., a diabody, a BiTe, a bispecific antibody, a CAR, etc.) capable of mediating the redirected killing of a target cell (e.g., a cancer cell or a pathogen-infected cell, etc.) expressing a Disease Antigen. The invention particularly concerns the embodiment in which the molecule capable of mediating the redirected killing of the target cell is a bispecific binding molecule that comprises a first epitope-binding site capable of immunospecifically binding an epitope of a cell surface molecule of an effector cell and a second epitope-binding site that is capable of immunospecifically binding an epitope of such target cells (i.e., a Disease Antigen such as a Cancer Antigen or a Pathogen-Associated Antigen). The present invention is also directed to pharmaceutical compositions that comprise such molecule(s).本發明涉及用於治療癌症和病原體相關疾病的聯合療法，其包括施用：(1)能夠結合PD-1或PD-1的天然配體的分子(例如，雙抗體、ScFv、抗體、TandAb等)，和(2)能夠介導對表達疾病抗原的靶細胞(例如，癌細胞或病原體感染的細胞等)的重定向殺傷的分子(例如，雙抗體、BiTe、雙特異性抗體、CAR等)。本發明尤其涉及其中能夠介導對靶細胞的重定向殺傷的分子是雙特異性結合分子的實施方式，其中所述雙特異性結合分子包含能夠免疫特異性結合效應細胞的細胞表面分子的表位的第一表位結合位點和能夠免疫特異性結合這類靶細胞(即，疾病抗原如癌抗原或病原體相關抗原)的表位的第二表位結合位點。本發明還涉及包含這類分子(一種或多種)的藥物組合物。
