Things You May Want to Know About Immune Cell Therapy (Part Two) 3. Genetic modification to strengthen cell therapy With the deepening of research, it was discovered that in a group of killer cells, T cells are the main cells involved in the killing of tumor cells, so scientists began to use T cells as the most important weapon against tumors, which can avoid the use of a large number of cytokines, which largely reduced the therapy side effects. With the advent of genetic technology, scientists also thought of using genetic modification technology to help T cells directly obtain the ability to identify tumor cells, so TCR-T technology and CAR-T technology were born. The former is genetically modified by specifically contacting the T cells with tumor cells to identify the tumor cells. In the latter case, a segment of the ligand gene of a related antigen (CD19) on B cells was added to T cells by gene technology. Although the ability of the modified T cell to recognize and attack is very strong, it is limited by tumor-associated antigens and can only play a role in the blood tumor field. On the other hand, because both of these technologies have genetically modified autologous T cells, and genetic modification requires the participation of viruses, in addition to easily triggering dangerous immune factor storms, it also lays the hidden dangers of foreign genes. Therefore, the safety of TCR-T technology and CAR-T technology has long been controversial. 4. Methods of Blocking Tumor "Escape" Channels With the application and development of immune cell therapy technology in the clinic, scientists have found that in addition to the need to address the lack of combat effectiveness of the body's immune system against cancer, it is also necessary to solve the tumor's inhibition of immune cells. Tumor cells use immunological checkpoint pathways to suppress their ability to recognize and kill immune cells and thus achieve immune escape. One of the most important pathways is the PD1/PD-L1 pathway, and PD-1/PD-L1 mAb drugs emerged. The role of monoclonal antibody drugs is to block the path of tumor immune escape, lift immune suppression, restore the immune system's ability to identify and kill tumor cells. Although the efficacy of drugs is significant, due to the supplement of exogenous substances, there are still problems such as the inability to establish long-term immunity, the emergence of drug resistance, and the possibility of causing treatment side effects. 5. Secure & long-term & accurate immune cell treatment The success of PD-1/PD-L1 monoclonal antibodies opens up new ideas for tumor immune cell therapy. Guided by the idea of immunological checkpoints, the Noris Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Southern California and Baylor College of Medicine developed a new tumor vaccine (iPD-L1-Vax). The vaccine loads PD-L1 antigen protein onto DC cells in vitro and returns them to patients. Using DC cells' powerful antigen signaling capability, B cells can activate anti-PD-L1 antibodies and block the escape pathway of tumor cells (The effect is the same as that of PD-L1 monoclonal antibody). In addition, the signals transmitted by DC cells can also activate the proliferation of T cells and produce more T cells with tumor killing ability. At the same time, B cells and T cells will also generate memory B cells and memory T cells, respectively, in the process
of activation, so that the two types of cells will remember the information of the tumor. Once new tumor cells are around, they will immediately activate the tumor. The cells are extinguished in the bud. The combination of DC cell technology and immune checkpoint technology can help the body to restore a safer and longer anti-tumor immunity. In order to further enhance the killing capacity of the vaccine, the researchers also isolated and extracted from the peripheral blood a group of very “precious� T cells. These T cells are autoimmune cells activated by tumor-specific antigens and have direct ability of recognition and elimination of tumors. Because they are activated by tumor-specific antigens (which exist only on the surface of tumor cells but not normal cells), these T cells are highly targeted and only specifically attack tumor cells. The iPD-L1-Vax potent tumor vaccine also has the advantages of enhancing human anti-tumor immunity and establishing long-term tumor monitoring and clearance capabilities. On the one hand, since all powerful tumor vaccines use unmodified autoimmune cells, the safety of treatment is greatly guaranteed. On the other hand, the use of tumor-specific antigens rather than related antigens as therapeutic targets not only makes the treatment of potent tumor vaccines more precise, but also greatly expands the application of cell immunotherapy in different cancer species. 6. Looking to the future Over a century of development, biological immune cell therapy has shown encouraging clinical efficacy, which has brought hope for the cure of advanced cancer and the resolution of tumors. The active role of the immune system in tumorigenesis has been widely recognized by the medical community. The discovery of more characteristics and different immune response mechanisms of tumor cell will bring more opportunities and challenges to biological immune cell therapy. Next, immune cell therapy will continue to move toward safety, precision, and long-term success. We expect more innovative technologies to emerge and help humans achieve their ultimate goal of healing tumors faster. About the Author Starting from a small supplier of proteins and enzymes for academic institutes and biotech companies, Creative BioMart has always been focusing on developing high quality protein products including recombinant protein, GMP protein, native protein, cell lysate, assay kit, chromatograpphy reagent, etc. and efficient protein service. Over the past decade, our products and services are proved to have served our customers well and our brand has become one of the most trustworthy in the market.