Immune System Activation Study
Generally, gene therapy-based I-O products are designed to work in conjunction with the host immune system to increase native anti-tumor responses. The use of genetically engineered oncolytic viruses, cancer vaccines and adoptive cell transfer therapy enhances the anti-tumor ability of immune system. In addition, the administration of immune checkpoint inhibitors or immuno-modulatory cytokines is also able to reverse and switch on adaptive immunity. The activation events of immune system include the synthesis of cytokines, the clustering of cell surface receptors, T cell proliferation, the increased uptake of metabolites and ions, and changes in intracellular ATP levels, etc. As a world-renowned life science service provider, Creative Biolabs offers a range of immune system activation assays to support our clients' gene therapy-based I-O drugs development.
Figure 1. Design elements of a multiplexed immune-modulating I-O drugs. (Twumasi, 2018)
Featured Immune System Activation Assays
Cytokine is an important consideration in gene therapy-based I-O drug development, specifically in host responses to infection, immune responses, inflammation, and cancer. We provide various types of cytokine response assays for our clients, including chemokines, interferons, and interleukins, etc.
T cell activation requires at least two signals such as the engagement of TCR by antigen/MHC complex and the subsequent engagement of co-stimulatory molecules. T cells stimulated by antigens divide in response to a series of activation events. GTOnco™ Platform has the ability to conduct multiple in vitro assays to assess the T cell activation and T cell proliferation.
Antigen-specific stimulation changes the trafficking properties of T cells and these activated and effector T cells are able to effectively and specifically home to other organs. We offer the best-fit in vitro T cell trafficking assays to visualize organ-specific homing of T cells.
As the orchestrators and effectors of the adaptive immune response, the function of T lymphocytes is directed by the specificity of their T cell receptors (TCRs). GTOnco™ platform provides high-quality in vitro assays to test the specificity of engineered T cells for interested antigens, such as CAR-T and TCR-T products.
The exogenous antigens are normally presented to CD8+ T cells via MHC-I presentation, which can occur and trigger an immune response. The identification of MHC-I presented peptides is important for the gene therapy-based I-O drug development, such as cancer vaccine. By using MHC-associated peptide proteomics assays (MPPAs), GTOnco™ platform is able to measure relative quantification and affinity of peptides isolated from MHC-I molecules.
Macrophages exert multiple functions including modulating the adaptive immune response and responding to pathogens. Different populations of macrophages can be developed in response to different stimuli. GTOnco™ platform provides in vitro macrophage polarization assays to induce different macrophage subsets.
Immature dendritic cells (DCs) with strong migration ability are activated by the hapten-protein complex and undergo maturation and differentiate from antigen-capture and processing cells into potent immunostimulatory DCs to present antigen effectively to effector T-cells. We provide custom in vitro dendritic cell migration assay (DCMA) to evaluate the DC migration.
Creative Biolabs has established a perfect GTOnco™ platform to facilitate a wide range of projects for numerous clients. We are committed to offering the most efficient assay to support your gene therapy-based I-O drugs development. Please don't hesitate to contact us and let us know your specific requirement.
Reference
- Twumasi-Boateng, K.; et al. (2018). Oncolytic viruses as engineering platforms for combination immunotherapy. Nature Reviews Cancer, 18(7), pp.419-432.
