While fundamental knowledge about tumor immunology has exploded recently, a new therapeutic approach to cancer is taking off: immunotherapy. Instead of directly attacking tumor cells, the idea is to help the immune system recognize and destroy them.
The use of CAR-T cells (Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T Cells), a new avenue of immunotherapy, consists in genetically modifying the patient's immune cells to arm them against a tumor. Concretely, T lymphocytes are taken from the patient's blood and modified in vitro. This leads to their expression of specific surface receptors, which recognize a tumor antigen. Once modified, these CAR-T cells are multiplied and re-injected into the patient's body in large quantities. There they go on to destroy cancer cells after binding to the tumor antigen, releasing a mixture of cytokines and pro-inflammatory chemokines.
This application note focuses on detecting cytokine and chemokine secretion using two orthogonal no-wash immunoassays, AlphaLISA® and HTRF®, in an in vitro co-culture model with CAR-T cells and CD19 positive Raji cells targeting tumors.