Benjamin Steinbeck


Using Ortholog IL-2 Variants for Specific Activation of genetically modified T-cells

Immunotherapy represents an exciting frontier of cancer research. One promising therapy uses patients T-cells and reengineers them to aggressively attack cancer cells. This is known as Chimeric Antigen Receptor therapy or CAR. CAR T-cell therapy involves isolating patient T-cells and genetically altering them to have receptors that bind to the specific cancer cells. Once the T-cells are introduced they must be activated using cocktail of different cytokines. One major issue that has arose from these therapies are major side effects from a process called cytokine storm. Cytokine storm is the term used to describe a massive over-activation of a patient’s immune system leading to widespread inflammation which can manifest severe symptoms and even death. A potential solution to this problem is specific activation of the CAR T-cells to avoid activation of the patient’s endogenous immune system. This will be accomplished by introducing ortholog IL-2 receptors into the CAR T-cell that will respond to a slightly modified version of IL-2. This will allow for a specific activation of the cancer killing CAR T-cells while reducing the impact of the cytokine storm and other harmful side effects of treatment. 

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