Combining Gene Therapy and Nanomedicine to Enhance the Therapeutic Potential of T Cells

摘要

To undertake adoptive immunotherapy for lung cancer, we have combined nanotechnology, bioengineering, and gene therapy to use T cells as a vehicle for the targeted delivery of nanoparticles (NPs) to the lung tumor microenvironment. In this project, we have developed a high throughput electroporator to manipulate large numbers of T cells ex vivo for clinical uses. A proprietary electroporator is designed to electro-transfer RNA species to redirect T-cell specificity and NPs that can be functionalized to enhance T-cell biology. By introducing both transgenes and NPs, we are generating T cells that can be rapidly modified to act as a drug-delivery system for targeted therapy of lung cancer.