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Sci Transl Med. 2014 Jun 25;6(242):242ra83. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3008825.
Activity of Broad-Spectrum T Cells as Treatment for AdV, EBV, CMV, BKV, and HHV6 Infections after HSCT.
Papadopoulou A1, Gerdemann U1, Katari UL1, Tzannou I1, Liu H1, Martinez C1, Leung K1, Carrum G1, Gee AP1, Vera JF1, Krance RA1, Brenner MK1, Rooney CM1, Heslop HE1, Leen AM2.
Author information
It remains difficult to treat the multiplicity of distinct viral infections that afflict immunocompromised patients. Adoptive transfer of virus-specific T cells (VSTs) can be safe and effective, but such cells have been complex to prepare and limited in antiviral range. We now demonstrate the feasibility and clinical utility of rapidly generated single-culture VSTs that recognize 12 immunogenic antigens from five viruses (Epstein-Barr virus, adenovirus, cytomegalovirus, BK virus, and human herpesvirus 6) that frequently cause disease in immunocompromised patients. When administered to 11 recipients of allogeneic transplants, 8 of whom had up to four active infections with the targeted viruses, these VSTs proved safe in all subjects and produced an overall 94% virological and clinical response rate that was sustained long-term.
There is additional analysis and commentary in this article of TheScientist:
Speeding Up Antiviral T Cell Production
Scientists come up with a simpler, more efficient strategy for making multivirus-targeting T cells for immunotherapy.
By Ruth Williams | June 25, 2014
Therapeutic transfer of virus-specific T cells to immunocompromised patients can help battle life-threatening infections, but the process for generating such cells is lengthy and laborious. A paper published today (June 25) in Science Translational Medicine, however, suggests a speedy alternative. Ten days in culture was all it took for researchers to generate multivirus-specific T cells that, when transferred into transplant patients, could wipe out multiple infections at once.
“Making T cells for therapy has always been a nightmare,” said John Barrett, an expert in allogenic stem cell transplants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, who was not involved in the study. “The importance of this [new] approach is that it is a little bit simpler and more rapid to generate these T cells . . . and that is actually a practical breakthrough,” he said. “As a step towards making a product that could be widely available, it is very exciting.”....
....Despite the room for improvement, Jose Montoya, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, suggested that “this is a treatment strategy that any center seeing these patients should have in their therapeutic armamentarium.”
“Over the past 24 years, I've seen too many [stem-cell transplant] patients losing their battle to adenovirus, BK virus, EBV, HHV-6 and CMV,” he wrote in an e-mail. “I hope to one day soon be able to offer [multivirus-specific T] cells as a therapeutic option.”
Activity of Broad-Spectrum T Cells as Treatment for AdV, EBV, CMV, BKV, and HHV6 Infections after HSCT.
Papadopoulou A1, Gerdemann U1, Katari UL1, Tzannou I1, Liu H1, Martinez C1, Leung K1, Carrum G1, Gee AP1, Vera JF1, Krance RA1, Brenner MK1, Rooney CM1, Heslop HE1, Leen AM2.
Author information
- 1Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
- 2Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030, USA. amleen@txch.org.
It remains difficult to treat the multiplicity of distinct viral infections that afflict immunocompromised patients. Adoptive transfer of virus-specific T cells (VSTs) can be safe and effective, but such cells have been complex to prepare and limited in antiviral range. We now demonstrate the feasibility and clinical utility of rapidly generated single-culture VSTs that recognize 12 immunogenic antigens from five viruses (Epstein-Barr virus, adenovirus, cytomegalovirus, BK virus, and human herpesvirus 6) that frequently cause disease in immunocompromised patients. When administered to 11 recipients of allogeneic transplants, 8 of whom had up to four active infections with the targeted viruses, these VSTs proved safe in all subjects and produced an overall 94% virological and clinical response rate that was sustained long-term.
There is additional analysis and commentary in this article of TheScientist:
Speeding Up Antiviral T Cell Production
Scientists come up with a simpler, more efficient strategy for making multivirus-targeting T cells for immunotherapy.
By Ruth Williams | June 25, 2014
Therapeutic transfer of virus-specific T cells to immunocompromised patients can help battle life-threatening infections, but the process for generating such cells is lengthy and laborious. A paper published today (June 25) in Science Translational Medicine, however, suggests a speedy alternative. Ten days in culture was all it took for researchers to generate multivirus-specific T cells that, when transferred into transplant patients, could wipe out multiple infections at once.
“Making T cells for therapy has always been a nightmare,” said John Barrett, an expert in allogenic stem cell transplants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, who was not involved in the study. “The importance of this [new] approach is that it is a little bit simpler and more rapid to generate these T cells . . . and that is actually a practical breakthrough,” he said. “As a step towards making a product that could be widely available, it is very exciting.”....
....Despite the room for improvement, Jose Montoya, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, suggested that “this is a treatment strategy that any center seeing these patients should have in their therapeutic armamentarium.”
“Over the past 24 years, I've seen too many [stem-cell transplant] patients losing their battle to adenovirus, BK virus, EBV, HHV-6 and CMV,” he wrote in an e-mail. “I hope to one day soon be able to offer [multivirus-specific T] cells as a therapeutic option.”
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