Lab-Grown Stem Cell–Derived T Cells Fight Cancer in Tumor-Bearing Mice
Although small clinical studies of adoptive T-cell therapy in the treatment of advanced forms of leukemia have shown positive results, including putting some patients into complete remissions, progress in the development of this type of immunotherapy is limited by the lack of readily available, antigen-specific, human T lymphocytes. To overcome this problem, Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Cell Engineering & Gene Transfer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues are studying the therapeutic potential of human pluripotent stem cell–derived lymphoid cells to treat cancer.
After harvesting a small number of T cells from the blood of healthy donors, the researchers reprogrammed the cells into stem cells using combination induced pluripotent stem cell and chimeric antigen receptor technologies to generate human T cells targeting CD19, an antigen expressed by malignant B cells, in tissue culture. The lab-grown T cells were then infused into tumor-bearing mice and were able to attack cancer cells and suppress tumor growth similarly to the way natural T cells work in humans. The study results were published in Nature Biotechnology.
Potentially Unlimited Source of T Cells
Although the research is in its early stages, the induced pluripotent stem cell and chimeric antigen receptor technologies combined in this study potentially provide an unlimited source of T lymphocytes targeted to a chosen antigen, independent of HLA restriction, wrote the researchers. If the process can be translated to clinical use, physicians would have access to an unlimited number of specific cancer-fighting T cells that could advance the delivery of T cell therapies to patients. “This approach of generating therapeutic human T cells ‘in the dish’ may be useful for cancer immunotherapy and other medical applications,” said the study authors.
Funding sources for this study include the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute’s Clinical Scholars Biomedical Research Training Program, C.A. Dana Foundation, the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Training Award PC101964, the Majors Family Foundation, The Lake Road Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Mallah, and L. Sanders. The authors reported no potential conflicts of interest.
The content in this post has not been reviewed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) and does not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of ASCO®.
