CTL Therapy

Autologous CD-20 Targeted T-Cell Therapy

Clinical Trial at the Hutch Now to Recruit CLL Patients

Trained Killer T-Cells to the Rescue

Another interesting clinical trial will soon be open to CLL patients. T-cells collected from patients are grown into large armies and targeted to kill only cells with the CD-20 marker. These activated and targeted killer T-cells will be used in the clean-up of minimum residual disease left after more traditional therapies. This innovative approach is the basis for a Phase I clinical trial at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Read our review of this latest evolution in using CTLs in Autologous CD-20 Targeted T-Cell Therapy.

Killer T-Cells and the Risks of CTL Therapies

How T Cells Kill - Serial Killers Up Close and Personal 

Cartooning Cellular Mayhem

Whether they are your own home-grown natural variety, or the high-tech armies grown for you outside your body in a research lab, activated T-cells primed for killing their targets are an important line of defense against cancer cells, pathogens and cells infected by viruses. Activated T-cells are called Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes (CTLs) and they are quite different from naïve T-cells prior to their call-up for active duty. We consider how CTLs kill target cells and learn a little bit about why sometimes they fail to complete their mission in Killer T-Cells and the Risks of CTL Therapies.

T-cell Therapy at UCSD

A Start-up Takes an Interesting Approach

The Story of Xcyte and Its Technology

A few years ago, a Seattle start-up called Xcyte Therapies, Inc. developed a technology for ex-vivo activation and expansion of T-cells, in the hope that these externally grown armies of T-cells would prove effective against CLL and lymphoma. The company raised some money from eager venture backers and launched a phase I/II clinical trial of its ‘Xcellerated’ T-cell technology at a number of centers, including UCSD. We were able to track how patients did on this trial. In this article, T-cell Therapy at UCSD, we report on the technology behind this effort.

Combination Immunotherapy

Is This a Way to Spell C-U-R-E?

Combining Bispecific Antibody and CTL Therapy

While a stem cell transplant is the only process known to produce an actual cure in CLL, immunotherapy is getting more sophisticated. In Combining Bispecific Antibody and CTL Therapy, we explore ideas in active immunotherapy which in combination might point the way to a cure.

Adoptive T-cell Therapy

It's All in the Technology

Armies of Shock Troops

Cytotoxic T-cells have a potential to actively go after and destroy tumor cells. The problems is one of efficiency and numbers. A number of companies are working on techniques to select the right type of CTL's from a patient's own system, train them by exposing them to appropriate antigens expressed by the tumor and aggressively grow these T-cells outside the body to very large numbers. The hope is that when infused back to the patient, these CTLs will provide the active immunotherapy for a clean-up job on the tumor without the risks or the exposure to graft-versus-host disease inherent in stem cell transplants. We expore these ideas in Adoptive T-cell Therapy.