Compositions and methods for restoring immune responsiveness in patients with immunological deficiencies

摘要

The present invention relates generally to methods for stimulating, activating and maintaining or increasing the polyclonality of expressed TCRs in a population of T cells. In the various embodiments, cells are stimulated with a surface, wherein the surface has attached thereto one or more agents that ligate a cell surface moiety of at least a portion of the T cells and stimulates at least a portion of the T cells, yielding enhanced proliferation, cell signal transduction and/or cell surface moiety aggregation. In certain aspects methods for stimulating a population of cells such as T-cells, by cell surface moiety ligation are provided by contacting the population of cells with a surface, that has attached thereto one or more agents that ligate a cell surface moiety thereby inducing cell stimulation, cell surface moiety aggregation, and/or receptor signalling enhancement. Also provided are methods for producing T-cells for the use in diagnostics and the treatment of a variety of indications, including cancer, viral infection and immune related disorders. Compositions of cells having increased polyclonality produced by these processes are further provided.