Immunotherapy method for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases

This technology provides a 3D cell culture assay and algorithm that optimizes and expands the population of a patient’s killer immune cells to treat infectious diseases and cancer.

Unmet Need: Effective immunotherapy for cancer treatment

Cellular immunotherapy has been a rapidly growing therapeutic strategy for treating cancer and infectious diseases. However, despite strong evidence of inducing tumor regression, only a few patients are completely cured through cellular immunotherapy. This inefficacy of tumor eradication has been attributed to the relative number of tumor cells and effector immune cells, indicating that current immunotherapy methods fail to deliver an adequate number of immune cells to eliminate all the target and prevent repopulation.

The Technology: Framework for improving immunotherapy by boosting the efficiency of immune cells

This technology describes a 3D cell culture assay and algorithm for the optimization of cellular immunotherapy. The cell culture assay identifies the most effective combination of immune cells and cytokines against neoplastic disease, while the algorithm determines the number, concentration, and activity of the enhanced immune cells required for the complete elimination of the diseased cell type, thereby reducing the chance of relapse. Ex vivo expansion of the cultured immune cells is also included to deliver the predetermined critical concentration of effector immune cells. As such, by increasing the killing capacity of immunotherapy by up to 50%, this technology has the potential to enhance the efficiency, specificity, and effectiveness of existing immunotherapy techniques.

This technology has been validated with in silico, in vitro, and in vivo methodologies, including in a mouse model of melanoma.

Applications:

• Effective and personalized immunotherapy treatment for neoplastic disease
• Immunotherapy treatment for infectious disease
• High-throughput strategy for optimizing the quantity and/or quality of immune cell populations
• High-throughput method to identify suitable immune effector cells

Advantages:

• High-throughput
• 3D systems recapitulate the complex environment of multicellular organisms
• Enhanced killing potential of cells reduces the absolute number required for cancer eradication
• Quantitative methods eliminate the ambiguity of other immunotherapy treatments
• Potential to be developed into a high-throughput screen for any small molecule, protein, or cellular agent that either enhances or diminishes an immune response

Lead Inventor:

Samuel C. Silverstein, M.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Issued (US 10,912,798)

Patent Issued (US 10,137,153)

Patent Issued (US 9,488,644)

Related Publications:

• Budhu S, Loike JD, Pandolfi A, Han S, Catalano G, Constantinescu A, Clynes R, Silverstein SC. “CD8+ T cell concentration determines their efficiency in killing cognate antigen-expressing syngeneic mammalian cells in vitro and in mouse tissues.” J Exp Med. 2010 Jan 18; 207(1): 223-235.

• Budhu S, Schaer DA, Li Y, Toledo-Crow R, Panageas K, Yang X, Zhong H, Houghton AN, Silverstein SC, Merghoub T, Wolchok JD. “Blockade of surface-bound TGF-β on regulatory T cells abrogates suppression of effector T cell function in the tumor microenvironment”. Sci Signal. 2017 Aug 29;10(494):eaak9702. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.aak9702. PMID: 28851824; PMCID: PMC5851440.

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR CU2648, CU2830, CU2856

• Licensing Contact: Sara Gusik