Daley lab’s iPSC-derived T cell differentiation method; plus Harbour’s CTLA-4 antibody and more
BioCentury’s roundup of translational news
Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital including George Daley showed in Cell Stem Cell repressing the histone methyltransferase EZH1 promoted in vitro differentiation and maturation of T cells from iPSCs that display a molecular signature closely resembling mature TCRαβ T cells found in adult blood. The cells, derived in a stroma-free, serum-free system, were transduced with an anti-CD19 CAR and elicited stronger antitumor effects compared with iPSC-derived T cells without EZH1 knockdown in a xenograft mouse model of diffuse large B cell lymphoma.
Cell and gene therapy accelerator ElevateBio LLC announced Thursday that it formed a new company to develop allogeneic immune cell therapies based on the differentiation method to produce “EZ-T cells.” It is the first company to emerge from a five-year collaboration between Boston Children’s Hospital and ElevateBio. “Activated EZ-T cells give rise to high levels of memory T cells, which promotes T cell longevity and may be essential for durable remissions in cancer patients,” ElevateBio said in a statement...
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