Gadeta
Gadeta aims to develop a cancer treatment for all types of tumors
Science
science
We are pioneering the development of T-cells engineered to express defined γδ T-cell receptors that can specifically recognize cancer cells, eliminate them, and spare healthy cells.
The field of oncology has been revolutionized by the emergence of cellular immunotherapies that harness and augment the natural capacity of the immune system to fight cancer. As this ability is often impaired in tumour-bearing patients, one promising approach is to directly bolster deficient endogenous immune responses with adoptive T-cell therapy.
γδ T-cells are one of the immune cell types that express antigen receptors. The two major subsets of human γδ T-cells are Vδ1+ and Vδ2+ T-cells. Typically, the majority of γδ T-cells found in the peripheral blood express the Vδ2 chain and also co-express the Vγ9 chain. Vδ1 T-cells are mostly found enriched in tissues. γδ T-cells contribute to lymphoid antitumor surveillance and bridge the gap between innate and adaptive immunity. γδ T-cells exhibit important roles in immune-surveillance and immune defence against tumours and have become attractive effector cells for cancer immunotherapy.
A recent study investigating the overall survival outcomes from 39 different malignancies, looking at gene signatures of ∼18,000 individual human tumours, found that infiltrating γδ T-cells were the immune cell type associated with the best outcome.
To harness the unique targeting properties of γδ T-cells Gadeta has developed αβ T-cells equipped with a defined γδTCR. The αβ T-cells cancer patients retain their function and proliferative capacity and they are ideal ‘carrier’ for γδTCR.
TEGs seek out, identify and precisely destroy cancer cells. The TEGs are activated when their defined γδTCR engages with the cancer antigen, which leads to the release of cytotoxic molecules and cytokines such as granzymes, perforin, and IFNγ. It is this engagement that results in the activation/proliferation of the TEGs and killing of cancer cells.