Adoptive T-cell therapy for immunosuppressed patients with COVID-19

admin_vjr_user — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 16:00:01 +0000

Patients who receive immunosuppressants as a result of organ or hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection and may not benefit from current COVID-19 vaccines. Lena Peter, Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies, Berlin, Germany, describes treating COVID-19 in immunocompromised patients with adoptive T-cell therapy. T-cells derived from donors were isolated and were made resistant to tacrolimus, a common immunosuppressant, via knockout of the gene encoding FKBP12. In vivo studies determined the modified T-cells to effectively target COVID-19 and its variants, and Phase 1 are currently being planned to assess the novel approach. This interview took place at the International Conference on Lymphocyte Engineering (ICLE) 2022.

Addressing immunogenic barriers facing CRISPR-Cas9-based therapies

admin_vjr_user — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 15:59:59 +0000

Lena Peter, Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies, Berlin, Germany, provides an overview of strategies to overcome immunogenic barriers in vivo CRISPR-Cas9-based treatments face. As humans have existing immunity to Cas9 of various bacterial strains, safety and efficacy may be affected when they are treated with gene therapies using modified Cas9 proteins. She also highlights the suppressive nature of Cas9-specific regulatory T cells (Tregs), which can inhibit production of effector T cells targeting Cas 9. However, the ratio of effector T cells and Tregs should be monitored in patients to assess safety. This interview took place at the International Conference on Lymphocyte Engineering (ICLE) 2022.

Lena Peter – VJRegenMed

Adoptive T-cell therapy for immunosuppressed patients with COVID-19

Addressing immunogenic barriers facing CRISPR-Cas9-based therapies