Improving Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-Cell Therapy Using Engineering Biology and Mechanobiological Approach

Why are cells not regularly used as medicine?

If our cells repair us, keep us safe from pathogens and form our immune system, why do we not grow more in laboratories to help our bodies when needed?

This is the basis of cell-based medicine: using cells to produce therapeutic products or to be transplanted into patients as therapy.

One of the main applications of cell therapy today is cancer treatment. In this, the 'T cells' responsible for destroying cancers are transplanted to patients who need them. The concept is simple, but the execution is exceptionally difficult.

The difficulty is keeping T cells 'happy' when taken from a patient or donor. As soon as cells leave the body, they begin to change, stop functioning as they should, and eventually, die.

Biologists have typically used complex chemical environments to force cells to function and multiply in laboratory cultures. We now know, however, that the chemical environment is only half of the picture; cells must 'feel' that their mechanical environment is right for them. If we are to control the activation of T cells to multiply, their laboratory environment must have the same mechanical properties (such as stiffness) as naturally in a body.

T cell activation and expansion are significant barriers to the cost-effective scaling of cell therapies, despite becoming a gold standard for many diseases, including cancer and arthritis.

Cost-effective scaling and improved function of cell therapies can only be achieved through advanced engineering biology approaches.

StemBond Technologies uses advanced material science to make cell culture environments that support optimal cell function. By controlling the mechanical environment of culture to optimise cell function, we will overcome the most significant obstacle to effective cell therapies. We will develop stiffness-modulatory microspheres to control T cell activation, increasing expansion yield, reducing cell exhaustion, and improving targeting.

With this advancement, we will be one step closer to the routine use of cells as medicine.