Expansion of T Lymphocytes for the Immunotherapy of Children with Cancer

Background

Our laboratory is focused on developing novel, safe and effective therapies for children with solid tumors by redirecting T cells to recognize and kill cancer cells. Outcomes of children with solid tumors have improved over the past decades, but for many patients with un-resectable tumors, chemotherapy has limited benefits despite significant short and long term toxicities. Thus, there is an urgent need to find novel treatments, and immunotherapy with cancer-specific T cells may fill this need. To achieve this goal, T cells can be collected from the patient’s blood, expanded outside of the body, manipulated to arm with receptors that recognize and kill cancer cells and then these generated T cells can be reinfused to patients. A key element in this process is the expansion phase when the T cells are grown in the laboratory. Although there are several methods available, it is not clear which is the best for the generation of cancer-redirected T cells. Thus, the summer student will systematically test and compare four methods to generate T cells and determine which method can expand the fittest cell population.

Project Goal

The POST summer student will learn about basic T cell biology, understand the requirements for optimal T cell expansion and acquire fundamental skills to test T cell function. His work will be highly impactful since after validation under Good Manufacturing Practice conditions, the results may be directly applied to the clinical setting and help to generate cancer specific T cells with higher antitumor potential for children with cancer.