Isolation & use of immune cells from blood products of healthy donors
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Isolation and use of immune cells from blood products from healthy donors obtained from The NHS Blood and Transplant for the development of new cancer therapeutics.
IRAS ID
227355
Contact name
Alan Graham Pockley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nottingham Trent University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Not applicable, Not applicable
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
The John van Geest Cancer Research Centre is focussed on better understanding the reciprocal interactions between cancers (including breast, prostate, brain [glioblastoma multiforme], leukaemia and ovarian) and the immune system, and using this knowledge to develop new therapeutic approaches that can better ‘trigger’ the immune system to recognise and kill tumours (‘cancer immunotherapies’). These programmes provide unique insights into immune system-cancer interactions and how protective anti-cancer immune responses are controlled and can be exploited for patient benefit.
These studies require a range of in vitro assays for measuring the capacity of immune cell populations to respond to stimulation and kill tumour cells using functional readouts including in vitro and in vivo killing assays and pre-clinical models to assess the control of tumour growth and spread. It is also important to understand how cancer cells manipulate immune cells as a mechanism of immune escape. These studies require a continuous supply of human peripheral cell mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Although these can be obtained from healthy volunteers, this approach does not always provide sufficient numbers of cell sub-populations, because of which we are seeking approval to obtain blood products (Buffy Coats, Leukocyte Cones) from the NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). These products will allow us to generate large numbers of PBMCS, from which we can isolate relatively large numbers of low-frequency populations which would not be possible otherwise. We will also be able to cryopreserve large numbers of PBMCs from single donors, which can be used as internal controls for multiple studies and provide information on the basal expression of several immune-related markers in a healthy immune system.
This capability will allow us to better understand the immune system in patients with cancer and develop better diagnostic and therapeutic approaches that rely on the presence/induction of effective anti-tumour immunity.
REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/NW/0783
Date of REC Opinion
8 Nov 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion