T-knife – unleashing T-cell receptors on cancer – Nature
For 17 years, Thomas Blankenstein has been working on his Berlin-based start-up T-knife and is finally going to be able to test his T-cell receptor (TCR) cancer immunotherapy. To make this immunotherapy, they replaced the TCR genes of a mouse with those of a human and inserted genes to encompass both the human TCR repertoire […]
Promising immunotherapy uses cancer-killing cells to destroy malignant tumors
CAR-T cell therapy, which received FDA approval in 2017, are highly effective against some blood-borne cancers and offer significant benefits but are not uniformly applicable to all forms of cancer. In addition, in patients with solid tumors, T cells can cause devastating and even fatal side effects. That’s why researchers at McMaster University have developed […]
First CAR-T therapy to target BCMA gets FDA nod – Nature
The first CAR-T immunotherapy directed against BCMA (idecabtagene vicleucel) for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma developed by partners Bristol Myers Squibb and bluebird bio was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on March 26, 2021. This therapy recognizes and binds BCMA (B cell maturation antigen) which is a cell surface protein […]
Modified version of CAR T-cell therapy shows promise in targeting neuroblastoma
Modified version of CAR T-cell therapy shows promise in targeting neuroblastoma The development of CAR T cells has facilitated the treatment of blood tumors. Moreover, this therapy is not effective against solid tumors such as neuroblastoma and has even revealed toxic effects that are due to the fact that most of the antigens that the […]
The CAR T-Cells Revolution has begun
These past few months, cancer immunotherapy has sped-up thanks to CAR technology. One look at the recent news about this is enough to figure that out. As examples: Two major deals between pharmaceutical companies and biotechs specialized in CAR T-cells: Gilead bought Kite Pharma for $12 billion, and Celgene bought Juno Therapeutics for $9 billion. The Food and […]
The rise of CAR-T therapies
Lentiviral vectors: the secret behind the rise of CAR-T therapies CAR-T has become a hype within the biotech field recently. Companies promising to deliver this new generation of therapies are shining on stock markets, sometimes leading to billion-dollar valuations. But the rise of CAR-Ts would not have been possible without a crucial technology: the lentiviral […]
Lentiviral vector transduction in human CD34+ cells
Kinetics of lentiviral vector transduction in human CD34+ cells Human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are refractory to the lentiviral vector transduction. Improvement of transduction efficiency for human HSCs remains crucial for further development of gene therapy especially for non-immunodeficiency diseases. In this report, the authors investigated which step(s) could be at stake, internalization, reverse transcription, […]
