T Cell Receptors that Recognize the Tyrosinase Tumor Antigen

TheNational Cancer Institute ' s Tumor Immunology Section is seeking statements of capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize new approaches to the immunotherapy of patients with   cancer.There is an urgent need to develop new therapeutic strategies combining fewer side-effects and more specific anti-tumor activity. Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) is a promising new immunotherapeutic approach to treat cancer and other diseases by directing an individual ' ' s innate and adaptive immune system to recognize specific disease-associated antigens. T cell receptors (TCRs) are proteins that recognize antigens in the context of infected or transformed cells and activate T cells to mediate an immune response and destroy abnormal cells. TCRs consist of two domains, one variable domain that recognizes the antigen and one constant region that helps the TCR anchor to the membrane and transmit recognition signals by interacting with other proteins. Scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have isolated T cells that recognize the human tyrosinase tumor-associated antigen (TAA) from the tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) of a melanoma cancer patient. The human tyrosinase antigen is a tumor antigen expressed in a variety of cancers, including skin cancer (melanoma) and brain cancer (glioblastoma). Utilizing the tyrosinase specific T cells, these scientists developed human/mouse hybrid TCRs with enhanced affi...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - Category: Research Authors: Source Type: research