The product your lab chooses to fulfill their research needs largely depends on the stage of development. Are you conducting early drug discovery research involving several different candidates? Perhaps your company is involved in translational research, considering a lead candidate for clinical studies? What is your research budget? Choosing the right starting material for a specific project is a critical decision, but one that can sometimes be daunting.
A study out of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina [1] cites using HemaCare leukopaks as the starting material for new research on allogeneic CAR T cells.
As most people know, the cancer fighting technique known as CAR T cell therapy has been getting a lot of attention these days, due to some remarkably positive clinical trial results. Two different versions of CAR T therapy have now earned FDA approval, so it seems that this type of therapy will inevitably be expanded to meet the needs of a considerably wider patient population. There’s a fairly large obstacle standing in the way of this expectation, however. Most clinical trials to date have been based on CAR T cell treatment as an autologous therapy, with the starting materials coming straight from the patients themselves. The problem with this autologous model is that it’s difficult to implement on a commercial scale, due to the limited availability of starting material.
In an independent publication [1] researchers at UCLA cited using leukopaks obtained from HemaCare in order to investigate a new gene editing method.
The group is researching strategies to treat genetic blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia. While there has been a great deal of research focused on using CRISPR/Cas9 gene therapy to treat these illnesses [2], current strategies for gene editing in hematopoietic stem cells are inefficient, and thus costly.
An independent publication in Nature: Scientific Reports cites using fresh leukopaks sourced from HemaCare in their T cell cryopreservation study. The authors, who work at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult in London, are studying the impact of cooling and thawing rates on cryopreserved human peripheral blood-derived T cells. In order for the emerging cell and gene therapy industry to effectively ship and store cell-based therapies to global markets, it will be necessary to cryopreserve cell therapy starting materials, as well as the final therapeutic products. To retain peak cellular function, and therefore therapeutic efficacy upon patient administration, it is necessary to understand how to optimize the cryopreservation process.
Scientists at antibody engineering company Xencor in Monrovia, CA have just published a research paper that cites using HemaCare sourced leukopaks in the development of their new antibody platform.
Monoclonal antibody therapy has become central to the treatment of many different diseases, including autoimmune disorders, asthma and cancer. Yet in spite of this success, many disease targets have yet to be effectively addressed. Monoclonal antibodies have trouble binding to antigens that are weakly expressed, which results in a need for higher dosing concentrations. High treatment dosages, in turn, can lead to toxicity effects. Monoclonals are also limited in that they can only block one target at a time, leaving parallel disease pathways open that can lead to treatment resistance.