Antibodies being used as a T-cell targeting system to wipe out cancer cells.
Cytotoxic T-cells are powerful effector cells capable of killing target cells bearing an appropriate antigenic complex (peptide–MHC), which is recognized by their T-cell receptor (TCR).
Most T-cells are however unable to recognize and kill tumor cells, because of the lack of tumor-specificity of their TCR.
By using bispecific antibodies targeting a tumor-associated antigen (TAA) on the cancer cells, and CD3 on the T-cells, it is possible to redirect and activate any circulating T-cells against tumor cells independently of the specificity of their TCR. Thanks to the bridging action of such TAAxCD3 bsAb, T-cells are brought in close proximity of the target cancer cells, leading to subsequent T-cell activation and T-cell–mediated killing of the tumor cells.
Nanolive’s automated microscope, the CX-A, was used to visualize whether the addition of bispecific antibodies enhanced the cancer-killing ability of cytotoxic T-Cells. For more information, please visit Nanolive.
Images were taken every four and a half minutes, for twenty hours.
