Gene therapy: T cells target mutations to fight solid tumors

via medicalexpress.com

"The efficacy of the immune system to combat disease makes the body's own healing powers a promising approach in the fight against cancer. A Berlin research group led by Wolfgang Uckert, Thomas Blankenstein and Matthias Leisegang has been collaborating with U.S. researcher Hans Schreiber in a project to use immune components called T cells to target mutant proteins produced by cancer cells.

T cells are "special forces" of the immune system that patrol the body and are equipped with T cell receptors molecules. The receptors scan the surfaces of all body cells for protein fragments called antigens. Antigens are produced within cells and are usually derived from pathogens. If their foreign origins are recognized, T cells will kill these cells. Antigens may also arise from abnormal proteins resulting from mutations in the genes of cancer cells, which may also be recognized as "foreign" by T cells.

Even though T cells migrate into tumors and potentially can recognize their antigens, the defense mechanism seems to fail during the formation of tumors. T cells in the tumors are usually inactive and therapeutically almost useless, Matthias Leisegang says. "But it is possible to obtain fresh T cells from a patient's blood and transfer tumor-specific T cell receptors into them," Leisegang says. 

"The transfer of the T cell receptor is carried out using genetically modified and functionally inactivated viruses that can insert their genetic material into millions of T cells. When these modified cells are infused into the patient, they are able to fight the tumor..."

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