Characterisation of T-cells from PBMCs for Cancer Cell Therapy v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Characterisation of T Cell Receptors (TCRs) on the surface of immune cells which are specific to particular short protein sequences (peptides) presented on the surface of cancer cells to develop robust immunotherapies for cancer.
IRAS ID
257835
Contact name
Marc van Dijk
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
AgenTus Therapeutics
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
AgenTus develops a specific type of immune-based cancer treatment called "Cell Therapy". This type of treatment utilises T-cells (types of specialised white blood cells that fight infection and cancer) from patients, which are re-programmed outside the body of the patient to enable them to better recognise and destroy cancer cells. This modified cells are then given back to the patient to fight cancer directly in the body.
The aim of this research is to gain a better understanding of how the immune system of healthy people recognises and reacts to cancer, and to use the results for the development of better cell therapies. Samples used in this research would not be introduced back into patients and are purely needed to derive genetic information to design better therapies.
Specific questions to be answered are: 1: Do T-cells from healthy people recognise molecules expressed specifically in cancer cells and not in normal tissues? 2: Is the immune reaction triggered by these T-cells strong enough to eliminate cancer cells? 3: Can information regarding the characteristic immune-response genes from these highly reactive T-cells in healthy people be used for development of cell therapy for cancer patients?REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/0143
Date of REC Opinion
3 Jan 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion