This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

A joint team of researchers at Bar-Ilan University and the Weizmann Institute has used advanced computational design methods to enhance the ability of genetically engineered immune cells to recognize and attack cancer and viral targets.

Published today in Science Advances, their study used protein design methods to improve a key component of T cells, which are cells of the immune system that can recognize and destroy diseased cells.

Based on these calculations, the researchers created an enhanced T-cell receptor scaffold, which they called SET (Structurally Enhanced TCR), that enabled engineered T cells to respond more strongly and attack target cells more effectively.

TCRs are natural receptors on T cells that recognize foreign targets, making them a key part of the cells' ability to fight disease and an advantage over current therapeutic constructs. In laboratory experiments, the enhanced T cells produced substantially stronger immune responses and demonstrated a greater ability to kill cancer cells than T cells carrying the original receptor.

The results were particularly striking in mice with human tumors. After 83 days, tumors treated with SET-containing T cells were approximately 35% smaller than those in untreated controls. By day 127, all the mice receiving the enhanced cells were still alive, compared with fewer than half of the control mice.

Importantly, the improvement was not limited to a single cancer target. The researchers applied the same approach to T cells designed to recognize several cancer-associated targets, including targets associated with melanoma and other difficult cancers, as well as targets from Epstein-Barr virus and SARS-CoV-2.

Source link