Clinical trials have begun with its first round of Metastatic Prostate Cancer patients for immune cell therapy.
Chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy uses the body’s own immune cells to target tumor cells. T cells are taken from a patient’s body then genetically modified to target specific protein markers on tumor cells. As research and development of the next generation of cell therapies continue, new efforts are underway to discover new targets for CAR-T cell development.
COVID-19 has been unpredictable and is still hard to understand, however, T Cells may help reduce the severity of certain cases of COVID-19.
The immune system is a collection of multiple players needed to protect an organism from pathogenic invaders. When a pathogen such as a virus enters the body, a series of events leads to the generation of antibodies that neutralize the virus. The production of an antibody response has been the primary focus of understanding how the body can combat infection with SARS-CoV-2.
Researchers discovered how the gut microbiome helps our immune system fight tumors that are cancerous.
The gut microbiome has beneficial effects on health, and alterations in the microbiota can increase the risk of a number of illnesses. Past studies suggest that the gut microbiota can affect anti-tumor immunity, and recently, that it can be used to simulate the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Immune checkpoints are proteins that prevent immune cells from targeting and killing the body’s own cells. However, tumor cells can use these checkpoint proteins (CTLA-4, PD-1, or PD-L1) to evade the immune system’s attack.
A recent independent publication cites using HemaCare leukopaks for their evaluation of a CAR T cell therapy’s antitumor potency.
As the CAR T cell therapy field continues to grow, developers seek to refine techniques that will improve both the safety and efficacy of this promising cancer immunotherapy strategy. Scientists at Juno Therapeutics (Celgene) have been working to improve the potency of a CD19-targeted CAR T therapeutic currently in phase 1 and 2 clinical trials.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota expand to clinical trials with natural killer cells against the novel coronavirus.
Natural killer (NK) cells are part of the innate immune system and function to recognize and disable virus-infected and tumor cells. NK cell-based immunotherapy is increasingly studied as a viable approach to treat solid tumors and hematological cancers. A collaboration between the University of Minnesota and Fate Therapeutics began clinical trials for a novel “off-the-shelf” targeted NK-cell based cancer immunotherapy (FT516) that uses induced pluripotent stem cells, adult stem cells reprogrammed to have the capacity to differentiate into any cell type.