The rebirth of in-person conferences (Immuno UK)!

It was really uplifting to be able to attend the Oxford Global Immuno-UK conference last week in person! There was lots of engagement and discussion with potential new clients and it was brilliant to be able to catch up with existing clients that we haven’t been able to see face-to-face for a while. It was also great to hear from Pathios Therapeutics and Enara Bio, about ‘Targeting the pH-Dependant Innate Immune Checkpoint, GPR65, on Tumour Associated Macrophages’ and ‘MR1-Reactive T Cells for Cancer Immunotherapy’. Our very own Darryl Turner, one of our Immunology Principal Scientists, also presented data on our new T cell exhaustion assay and the use of a novel inhibitor.

Pleased to see our clients were happy to be back in person too!

I really enjoyed representing Pathios Therapeutics at Immuno UK London and sharing some exciting data on targeting GPR65 on tumor-associated macrophages. On Tuesday there were some interesting talks about innate immune cells in cancer, a topic that continues to attract a lot of attention and it was great to be part of it. It was lovely to finally meet some of our colleagues at Concept Life Sciences in person!

What is T cell exhaustion?

Exhausted T cells are immune cells that can kill cancer cells but are ‘too tired’ to do so. Ordinarily, T cells recognize and kill abnormal cells such as cancer cells, but cancer cells are sneaky and can switch these immune cells off. To tackle cancer, many people are interested in being able to switch these immune cells from ‘exhausted’ to ‘active’.

Can ‘reversing exhaustion’ cure cancer?    

To turn on exhausted T cells, first, you need to be able to find them and figure out why they aren’t working. Whilst there currently isn’t a single defining characteristic, there are a few that can be used in combination to locate them. These characteristics are also known as off-switches and are involved in keeping the cells switched off. Blocking even just one of these off-switches has been shown to have miraculous results when used to treat cancer, with big reductions in tumor size and remission seen in late-stage cancers such as lung cancer and melanomas.

What’s the problem?    

Blocking these off-switches to reverse T cell exhaustion is an exciting therapy to treat cancers and chronic viral infections. However, these therapies do not work for everyone, and tumors can become resistant to this line of therapy.

How can we fix it?    

Potential ways to overcome these issues involve blocking more than one off-switch at the same time. However, there can be other factors within tumors that may also stop the cells from switching back on. Blocking off-switches, as well as these other factors in combination, may offer an even greater chance of success.

How do we know if a therapy will work?    

In a nutshell, we test it. Using cells in culture that can mimic what immune cells look like in the tumor is a great way to be able to tell if a therapy can switch exhausted cells back on. Our exhausted T cell assay mimics the key features associated with exhausted T cells and can be used to test the ability of compounds to switch these cells back on.

What’s the future?    

As tumor mechanisms and the tumor environment become better understood, more complex systems can be developed to even better mimic the way cells behave within a tumor. This will allow more accurate testing of new therapeutic approaches and provide a better indication of whether a therapy would likely work in a patient.

Read more about our T cell exhaustion assay and other systems we can use to test drug therapies for cancer and other immune-related diseases.