Dr. William H. Hudson is adapting T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing technology for use on preserved tissue samples to improve our understanding of how TCR specificity affects T cell function within the tumor microenvironment as well as cancer progression.
T cells are a critical arm of the adaptive immune system, capable of recognizing non-self-protein fragments known as neo-antigens that are presented by infected and cancerous cells. Immunotherapies that enhance T cell responses, such as checkpoint inhibitors, have had a profound effect on the treatment of many cancers. In addition to dictating what neo-antigen a T cell will target, the T cell receptor provides a natural \u201cbarcode\u201d that can be used to track T cell clones in the body over time. If two T cells share the same TCR, they are clonally related and have identical target specificity, allowing powerful inferences about their function and available differentiation pathways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recently, Dr. Hudson adapted TCR sequencing, which allows comparison of T cell specificity between multiple samples, to spatial transcriptomics, allowing him to characterize specific T cell clones and where they\u2019re located within the tumor microenvironment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, this adaptation relied on the use of fresh-frozen tissue, preventing its use on \u201cfixed\u201d or preserved tissue, which is widely available for thousands of patients. The goal of Dr. Hudson\u2019s project is to adapt spatial TCR-sequencing to preserved tissue to allow for more in depth analysis of T cells, especially their activity and location within tumors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By widening the availability of this powerful technique, banked human tumor samples can be used to understand the type and distribution of T cell clones within the tumor microenvironment and their relationship to disease progression and response to immunotherapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baylor College of Medicine | All Cancers | 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. William H. Hudson is adapting T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing technology for use on preserved tissue samples to improve our understanding of how TCR specificity affects T cell function within the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":29285,"template":"","tax_cancer_type":[455],"tax_grant_type":[481],"tax_award_year":[480],"tax_institutions":[560],"tax_location_states":[523],"class_list":["post-29284","cri_scientists","type-cri_scientists","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"scientist_subhead":"Technology Impact Award Grantee","quote":"New sequencing technologies are enabling the identification of crucial immune cells for attacking tumors. This CRI award will extend the use of these tools to more patients than ever before.","scientist_last_name":"Hudson","show_on_landing":false,"scientist_publish_until":"20250630"},"yoast_head":"\n