This simple and innovative test provides clinicians with the ability to track the function of these cancer-fighting cells over the course of the treatment.
T cells are a type of immune cell that seeks out and destroys cells infected by viruses, bacteria as well as tumour cells. Originally designed to detect SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells, this technology has now been adapted for use in cancer immunotherapy applications. The test, which uses less than a quarter teaspoon of blood, works by stimulating the target T cells in the blood to release chemical signals, called cytokines, through which the quantity and quality of the target T cells can be measured.
In this proof-of-concept study, which was published in Immunotherapy Advances, the research team introduced fragments, called peptides, that stimulate the T cells engineered to fight Hepatitis B virus-related liver cancer present in the treated patients. Using their test, they assessed whether the engineered T cells remained in the blood and continued to function properly after infusion into the patient.
Assistant Professor Anthony Tan, from Duke-NUS’ Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme and first author of the study, commented: “Our innovative test enables us to swiftly detect and analyse engineered T cells in patient blood samples. Its simplicity and speed could have a significant impact on the clinical field helping to make advanced treatments more accessible.”
With engineered T-cell therapies becoming more widely used to treat malignancies, including Hepatitis B virus-induced liver cancer and a range of blood cancers, being able to accurately and easily track how these engineered cells behave in the body over time will be crucial in monitoring the effectiveness of these therapies in individual patients.
At the same time, this plug-and-play concept can help accelerate the translation of new T-cell-based therapies from the laboratory to patient bedside. The research team has already demonstrated that the test can be adapted for use in numerous viral infections, but this is their first foray into cancer therapies, where the test can be harnessed for T-cell receptor (TCR) engineered T cells, as well as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies.
In collaboration with Lion TCR Pte Ltd, the test has been deployed in a Hepatitis B virus-TCR T-cell therapy clinical trial, called the SAFE-T-HBV trial, evaluating the effectiveness of a novel therapy in two patients and demonstrating the test’s impact on improving the precision of immunotherapy outcomes.
The team is now looking to advance this proof-of-concept through larger clinical studies.
This research is supported by the Singapore Ministry of Health through the National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Office, MOH Holdings Pte Ltd under the NMRC Singapore Translational Research Investigator Award (MOH-000019). The SAFE-T-HBV clinical trial was sponsored by Lion TCR Pte Ltd.
