Improved Cell Culturing for CAR-T Therapy
April 4, 2017 | Terry Sharrer
CAR-T cell therapy for cancer has been more promising than performing so far, partly because T-cells that can recognize protein targets on tumors have been slow to expand in vivo. However, this piece reports that Mayo Clinic and University of Washington scientists have determined how to trigger that expansion: “In a two-step process, the team exposed the T cells to cancer-related proteins, which activated innate immunity. They also replicated signals that normally occur in the body when a serious infection is present—alarm bells, if you will, that awaken resting T-cells and prompt them to multiply.” One other detail: it took three weeks to grow up enough of these engineered CAR-T cells. MORE
Image Credit: NIAID, University of Washington, Mayo Clinic and FierceBiotech.com