What is it about?
Regulatory T cells are a type of immune cell that is important for the prevention of aberrant immune responses in the body. Using genetic engineering technology, we introduced into regulatory T cell a gene that directs them to the intestine, where they can be activated to provide their anti-inflammatory effect. We showed in a mouse model of ulcerative colitis, a common form of inflammatory bowel disease, that administration of these cells into diseased mice has the capacity to ameliorate symptoms of the disease, including a reduced occurrence of colorectal cancer.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Ulcerative colitis is a common form of chronic inflammatory disease of the gut, and patients with ulcerative colitis are at greater risk to develop colorectal cancer. The disease is currently managed with anti-inflammatory with limited success, and there is a medical need to develop novel therapies that can be more efficacious and with long-lasting effects.
Perspectives
This was the first work to show that chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), a very promising approach in the treatment of cancer with unprecedented clinical success over recent years, can also be used to redirect other types of immune cells to an endogenous (i.e. 'natural') antigen and confer a therapeutic effect in non-oncology indications.
Dr Dan Blat
Weizmann Institute of Science
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Suppression of Murine Colitis and its Associated Cancer by Carcinoembryonic Antigen-Specific Regulatory T Cells, Molecular Therapy, May 2014, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1038/mt.2014.41.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
