Developing T-cell therapies for cancer in an academic setting.
T-cell immunotherapies have great potential because of their exquisite targeting ability and high efficacy, but are more complex to implement since they do not readily fit the pharmaceutical model. Nonetheless, recent improvements in gene-transfer technology allow T cells directed to tumor-associated antigens to effectively eradicate even bulky malignancies. T lymphocytes also have the potential to target tumor stem cells, provided the target antigens are appropriately identified and expressed on the components used to generate the effector T-cells. Numerous problems remain before these approaches can be widely implemented, but as the success rate increases, willingness to commit the necessary resources will correspondingly increase.
Brenner
Malcolm K
MK
Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, The Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, TX, USA. mbrenner@bcm.edu
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000818:Animals; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D015195:Drug Design; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology*