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TiCARos, Development of CTLA4 gene modificated CAR-T to avoid immune tolerance
by Euna Lee
TiCARos is a new bio-startup founded in June 2018 by President Lee Jae-won, whose career had been in a foreign bank, and Professor Choi Gyeong-soo of Seoul National University, who, when he was working in the National Cancer Center, was a developer of the original technology.
President Lee Jae-won of TiCARos explained, “TiCARos focuses on reinforcement of the anti-cancer function of T-cell. Existing cancer-specific T-cell therapy has employed an injection of proliferated cells, whereas the CAR-T cell resulted from genetic manipulation manifested limitations in therapeutic efficacy for solid cancer. We have introduced the CTLA4 gene, which was manipulated to activate T-cell and cancer antigen target CAR simultaneously for the development of ‘CAR-CTC28 double gene T-cell’, which enabled the reduction of side effects, and a strong anticancer effect to be attained”
◇ Reinforced CAR-T, “Cancer Antigen Target + ‘T-Cell Tolerance Brake’ Simultaneously”
TiCARos focuses on the prevention of cancer-specific T-Cell tolerance to overcome the limitations of existing immunotherapeutic agents. TiCARos is also developing ‘CAR-CTC28 T-cell’, the next-generation CAR-T cell that promotes anti-cancer functions. It is the simultaneous introduction of Chimera Antigen Receptor (CAR) and CTLA4-CD28 Chimera (CTC28), which is a manipulation of CTLA4 gene to activate T-cell, into T-cell. It was designed to work selectively on cancer-specific T-cell to reduce side effects, and to promote therapeutic efficacy.
▲CTC28(CTLA4-CD28 Chimera)의 모식도(그림: 티카로스 제공, 출처: Shin et al., 2012, Blood)... <계속>
