Many successful cancer immunotherapies depend on T cells — immune cells capable of recognizing and attacking tumors. However, tumors contain thousands of different T-cell populations, and scientists still struggle to determine which T cells are truly cancer-fighting and which are ineffective bystanders.
This challenge limits the development of personalized immune therapies because patient samples are often exhausted during testing, leaving little material available for deeper analysis. Dr. Birnbaum’s team has developed a new technology called TCRAFT that may solve this problem. TCRAFT allows researchers to rapidly rebuild and test thousands of patient-derived T-cell receptors (TCRs) in parallel without consuming precious clinical samples.
In this study, they will use both melanoma patient samples and tumor models to identify the TCRs most effective at recognizing cancer cells. They will then use these receptors to develop a new type of personalized cell therapy that more closely reflects the natural diversity of anti-tumor immune responses. The long-term goal is to create streamlined, patient-specific TCR therapies that combine the breadth of naturally occurring immune responses with the precision and scalability needed for clinical use. This work could significantly improve the ability to identify and harness the most powerful tumor-fighting T cells, advancing the development of more effective personalized cancer immunotherapies.
Projects and Grants: Polyclonal TCR-T therapy enabled by scalable synthesis of tumor-reactive TCR libraries
