A new technique for precisely identifying tumor antigen-specific T-cells has the potential to lower the cost and increasing the accessibility of personalized cancer treatment, according to a study in Cell (2020;S0092-8674[20]31245-9. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.09.048).
The new technique, developed by Scripps Research scientists, aims to distinguish between tumor-fighting cells and other cells. Researchers hope that the new method will advance personalized immunotherapy treatments and lower the costs and labor associated.
“In many new and emerging personalized cancer therapies, the key to success is finding the sometimes-elusive T cells that are directly targeting the tumor, then creating more of those cells outside of patients’ bodies and re-introducing them for tumor treatment,” said Peng Wu, PhD, Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA). “With our simple method to detect and isolate tumor-reactive immune cells, my hope is that we can advance personalized immunotherapy treatments that are now either too costly or laborious to reach their potential.”
The method, FucoID, features enzymatic fucosyl-biotinylation that tags the surface of tumor antigen-specific T cells so they can be seen and captured. The enzyme is loaded onto dendritic cells and when the cells interact, the enzyme transfers the tag to the tumor-fighting cells. The cells are then detected with a fluorescent probe and extracted from the sample.
FucoID successfully identified multiple types of tumor-fighting cells, including CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, which are important in cancer immunotherapies. The process takes one day compared to four or five weeks using current methods.
“This approach removes a significant barrier to studying tumor-specific T cells and will be immensely useful for both basic scientists and clinicians,” said John Teijaro, PhD, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA.—Lisa Kuhns
