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Israeli scientists have engineered immune cells that appear to better fight cancer and viruses, in research that could pave the way for new treatments for a variety of conditions.
Researchers at Bar-Ilan University, in Ramat Gan, and the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Rehovot, successfully developed an enhanced T-cell receptor, a key component of the immune system that enables T cells – cells that help the immune system to fight infections and abnormal cells – to recognise and attack diseased cells.
The researchers used computational methods to identify mutations that could improve the receptor’s stability and function, and then created an enhanced receptor, called SET (Structurally Enhanced TCR), introducing it into genetically engineered T cells, according to a study published in the journal Science Advances.
In laboratory experiments, the modified cells produced substantially stronger immune responses and were more effective at killing cancer cells than cells carrying the original receptor.
The results were also demonstrated in mice implanted with human tumours. After 83 days, tumours treated with T cells carrying the enhanced receptor were approximately one third smaller than those in untreated mice.
By day 127, all the mice treated with the engineered cells were still alive, compared with fewer than half of the control group.
The researchers tested T cells designed to recognise cancer-associated targets, including those linked to melanoma, as well as targets from Epstein-Barr virus and SARS-CoV-2 – the specific coronavirus that causes Covid-19. In each case, the enhanced cells showed stronger immune activity than the original cells.
Professor Cyrille J Cohen, who led the research at Bar-Ilan University, said computational protein design offered “a new and much more effective way to engineer the immune system”.
The findings are preclinical and have so far been demonstrated only in laboratory experiments and animal models. Further research will be needed to establish their safety and potential use in humans.
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