Invention:
This invention is a recombinant protein that is designed to restore the activity of immune cells that have been exhausted in patients with cancer. This invention focuses specifically on the restoration of the anti-cancer activity of immune cells, in particular natural killer (NK) cells.
Background:
Immune cell-based therapies are a widely utilized technique to fight off various illnesses. Notably, CAR-T cell therapy has been shown to be an effective treatment against cancer; however, CAR-T cell generated using exhausted T cells is not effective and continuous stimulation of CAR-T cell can lead to immune cell exhaustion. Immune cell exhaustion causes the cells to lose their functionality and reduces cytotoxicity and cytokine secretion. Thus, once immune cells, like NK cells, have become exhausted, they become ineffective in fighting against cancer. There are other methods for restoring NK cell efficacy; however, these methods are not able to permanently restore exhausted NK cells. On the contrary, this invention can be used as an adjuvant with immune-cell based therapies in order to restore the NK cells during the treatment and/or the cell expansion and results in permanent restoration of the anti-cancer activity of those cells.
Applications:
- Restore activity of exhausted immune-cells
- Increases cytolytic activity
- Decreases expression of inhibitory antigens on exhausted NK cells
- Enhances cytokine secretion
- Inhibits tumor growth
- Can be added to the culture media during immune cell expansion
Advantages:
- Permanently restores immune-cell functionality
- Can be used on a variety of different innate or adaptive immune cells
- Not restricted to the treatment of cancer
