Cell Therapy & Vaccines

What is Cell Therapy

Cell therapy is a form of immunotherapy that harnesses the power of T cells to fight diseases such as cancer and viral infections. T cell therapies involve modifying or enhancing T cells to improve their ability to target and destroy diseased cells. T cells are usally isolated form the patient (see also our infopage about PBMCs), enhanced or modified and then reinfused into the patient. This method is called addoptive cell transfer (ACT) or cellular adoptive immunotherapy.

Types of Cell Therapies

Adoptive Cell Transfer can be performed using different cell types:

Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Therapy

TILs (tumor infiltrating lymphoycytes) are extracted from a patient's tumor, expanded in the lab, and reinfused into the patient to enhance the immune response against the tumor.

CAR-T Cell Therapy

CAR-T cells (chimeric antigen receptor T cells) are genetically engineered to express CARs that recognize specific proteins on cancer cells. This modification enhances the T cells' ability to identify and attack cancer cells.

T Cell Receptor Therapy

Similar to CAR T cell therapy, TCR therapy (T cell receptor therapy) involves modifying T cells to express receptors that can recognize specific antigens presented by cancer cells via MHC molecules.

Engineered T Cell Receptor Therapy

TCR-Engineered T Cells (TCR engineered T cells) are genetically modified to express a specific TCR that can recognize and bind to antigens presented by cancer cells. This approach leverages the natural specificity of TCRs to target a broader range of antigens compared to CAR T cells.

Cytokine-Induced Killer Cell Therapy

CIK Cells (cytokine induced killer cells) are a heterogeneous population of immune cells that are expanded ex vivo using cytokines. CIK cells have properties of both T cells and natural killer (NK) cells and can target a variety of cancer cells.

CAR-NK Therapy

Natural killer cells (NK cells) are part of the innate immune system and provide rapid responses to virus-infected cells and tumor cells similar to CD8+ cytotoxic T-cells. CAR-NK provides improved safety compared to CAR-T Therapy and might be an option for off-the-shelf therapies.

Dendritic Cell Therapy

Dendritic cells are antigen-presenting cells (APCs). In DC therapy dendritic cells present tumor antigens to lymphocytes, activating them, and priming them to kill other cells that present the antigen.

CAR-M Therapy

Chimeric antigen receptor macrophage therapy (CAR-macrophage therapy) is a new strategy to fight solid tumors. Reprogrammed macrophages can easily infiltrate the TME (tumor microenvironment) and summon tumor-killer cells that target the tumor from within.

Peptides in T Cell Therapies

Peptides play a crucial role in T cell therapies by serving as antigens for T cells to recognize and target. They are used in several ways:

1. Peptide Vaccines: Peptide vaccines involve using short peptides that correspond to antigens found on tumor cells. These peptides are used to stimulate the patient's immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells.

2. TCR-T Cell Therapy: Peptides are used to identify and select TCRs that specifically recognize antigens presented by cancer cells. This selection ensures that the engineered T cells have high specificity and affinity for the target antigen.

3. CAR-T Cell Therapy: While CAR-T cell therapy primarily uses whole proteins or domains rather than peptides, peptides can still be involved in the initial antigen discovery and validation process.

4. Peptide-Pulsed Dendritic Cells: Dendritic cells can be loaded with peptides that are then used to prime T cells. This method is used to generate a robust and specific T cell response against the target antigen.

JPT's Experience with T Cell Therapy Peptides

T cell therapies represent a cutting-edge approach to treating cancer and other diseases, leveraging the body's own immune system to fight disease more effectively. The use of peptides in these therapies is vital, providing the necessary targets that guide T cells to recognize and eliminate diseased cells.

JPT Peptide Technologies has developed a number of unique peptide products and services that enable systematic B- and T-cell epitope discovery, immune monitoring and clinical development of immunotherapies and vaccines. Unlike other approaches on the market, our technologies allow for the monitoring of individual epitope patterns as well as epitope spreading and take into account natural sequence diversity and post-translational modifications.

Our peptides and services have been successfully used in numerous projects leading to novel approaches in cancer, infection, autoimmune disease and allergy therapy. For more details and technical insights, including protocols, publications, and application notes, please refer to the latest resources available on our website. Contact our team of experts to assist and guide you in optimizing your peptides for your research and therapeutic strategies using advanced T cell therapies.