Novel adoptive T cell immunotherapy using induced leukocyte stem cell

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K22857
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0901:Oncology and related fields
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Science
• Principal Investigator: SHIGEHIRO Tsukasa 東京理科大学, 研究推進機構生命医科学研究所, 助教 (30876058)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: T細胞免疫療法 / 人工白血球幹細胞 / がん免疫療法 / T細胞受容体 / キメラ抗原受容体

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Genetically engineered T cell therapy has made great strides in cancer therapy. However, there are still some obstacles for the success of the therapy, including T-cell exhaustion/terminal differentiation during manufacturing processes. Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells have been proposed to generate "young" engineered T cells. We previously investigated a leucocyte progenitor cell called induced Leukocyte stem (iLS) cell which has self-renewal capacity and differentiation potential to leukocytes. In this project, we had developed engineered T cells generated from iLS cells. Cancer-reactive receptor gene was stably transduced into iLS cells. The iLS cells generated tremendous amount of the engineered T cells. The engineered T cells showed significant anticancer activity with antigen-specific manner. Therefore, iLS cell should be a promising cell as a source of the engineered T cells for cancer immunotherapy.

Free Research Field

がん免疫療法

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、iLS細胞からがん免疫細胞療法のための遺伝子改変T細胞を作製することに成功した。これまで、造血幹・前駆細胞や人工多能性幹細胞から遺伝子改変T細胞を作製する方法が考案されているが、得られる細胞数、コスト、安全性などの課題があった。本研究で開発したiLS細胞は簡便に作製することができ、一定の条件でおいてのみ自己複製により増幅することができるので、安全で安価に大量の遺伝子改変Τ細胞が作製できることが期待される。