Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte and organoid co-culture for patient-specific immunotherapy
This technology is an ex vivo platform for selection and amplification of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes with tumor-killing ability that can be used to optimize immunotherapy before administration to the patient.
Unmet Need: Platform for assessing T-cell effectiveness prior to immunotherapy administration
Current methods of immunotherapy amplify tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) without determining whether the TILs have tumor-killing abilities and whether the patient’s cancer will respond to immunotherapy at all. Immunotherapy is very expensive and can cause adverse long-term reactions, even when having no beneficial effect on the patient. While immunotherapy can be highly effective for treating cancer, there are currently no platforms that enable testing of TILs for cytotoxicity prior to patient administration.
The Technology: Tumor-lymphocyte co-culture to select for tumor-killing behavior before treatment
This platform allows for a patient’s tumor sample to be co-cultured with their own tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). These TILs are then activated to specifically target and kill the tumor organoids. This technology allows for evaluation of T-cell immunotherapy prior to administration to the patient, reducing costs and improving the efficacy of the treatment.
This technology has been validated with human cancer cells.
Applications:
- Drug screening
- Research tool for development of drug resistance
- T-cell therapy for cancer
- Pre-treatment drug screening for precision medicine, immunotherapy sensitivity
- Cell culture and organoid platform
Advantages:
- Cost-effective
- Optimizes drug selection for patients
- Identifies patients for whom immunotherapy will not be effective, reducing costs and side effects
- Selects for cytotoxic T-cells
Lead Inventor:
Patent Information:
Related Publications:
Tech Ventures Reference:
CU22128
Licensing Contact: Joan Martínez