Besides learning
a lot and having fun, we achieved something great this year!
Check it out!
Team:Freiburg
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Find out more
about the Freiburg 2017 team and our members! -
To make our approach safer, we are integrating two inputs into one output. Have a look!
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We generated
stable cell lines, a gene knockdown, characterized several promoters and much more! -
To better
understand our AND gate, we modeled gene expression within our genetic circuit. -
To hear thoughts about our project, check out our survey and interviews with experts working on the topic!
Abstract
A new approach to cancer treatment is the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, which shows promising results fighting tumors in clinical trials. It consists of autologous isolated T cells modified with a chimeric receptor based on the T-cell receptor combined with the recognition domain of an antibody. Upon reinjection, CAR T cells exhibit cytotoxicity with high affinity towards cells displaying the antigen. However, clinical trials have shown that as tumor antigens are not solely expressed on tumor cells, but also on healthy tissues, grave off-target effects like the Graft-versus-Host-Disease may occur. In order to avoid such side-effects, we engineer CAR T cell lines specifically activated by factors of the tumor microenvironment. Controlled by a genetic AND gate system the T cells need two input signals in order to express CAR. This would allow highly localized cytotoxic activity of T cells and provide safer cell-based cancer immunotherapy especially for solid tumors.
