Mass production of anti-cancer cells!

Recently, scientists at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have developed a method that can more efficiently screen specific anti-cancer immune cells, or can promote the development of individualized anti-cancer therapies

Generally speaking, there are some specific mutant proteins on the surface of tumors, which are also tumor antigens for immune cells to recognize

However, the proportion of such cells is generally small, and how to increase the number of TIL has become the key to fighting cancer

According to the newly published research in Nature Biotechnology, the team led by Dr.

However, the study did not add dendritic cells to TIL, but instead added B cells

Which antigens are required to be presented by B cells? The researchers analyzed the genome of the test tumor through a computer and found a specific mutant protein.

After mixing these modified B cells with TIL, adding stimulating factors can mainly promote the growth of TILs that can target tumors.

This part of T cells can be simply obtained from the blood instead of requiring extraction from the tumor, which greatly improves the cell yield

▲Schematic diagram of the screening process (picture source: reference [2])

In the actual test, the researchers obtained T cells from a patient and used the above method to bring the navigation to track the tumor.

Note: The original text has been deleted

Reference materials:

[1] A method to selectively grow tumor-targeting T cells for cancer therapy.

[2] George Coukos, Sensitive identification of neoantigens and cognate TCRs in human solid tumors, Nature Biotechnology (2021).