Activated Autologous Lymphocyte Therapy
(αβT・NK)

What is activated autologous lymphocyte therapy (αβT/NK)?

This is a therapy in which lymphocytes and NK cells are isolated from blood taken from the patient, activated and proliferated, and returned to the body to attack cancer cells. It is mainly based on activating alpha-beta (alpha-beta) type T lymphocytes.

There are several types of immune cells that fight cancer, and the type of cells to be activated may vary depending on the patient’s symptoms and the nature of the cancer.

When NK cells or gamma-delta (gamma-delta) T cells are mainly activated, they are called NK cell therapy or gamma-delta T cell therapy.

Types of activated autologous lymphocyte therapy (αβT/NK)

αβT-cell therapy (CD3-LAK therapy)

The T lymphocytes are then cultured outside the body for about two weeks, and are strongly activated, increasing their number to several billion or more and returned to the patient’s body, thereby inhibiting the growth of cancer.

Activated autologous NK cell therapy

This is a treatment in which only NK cells are activated and proliferated from the patient’s blood and returned to the body. NK cells themselves have no antigen specificity and can go directly to the target area, enabling them to attack cancer cells more flexibly than other immune cells.

Characteristics of NK cells

In addition to activated autologous lymphocyte therapy, which is based on activating alpha-beta (alpha-beta) type T lymphocytes, a technology to selectively proliferate NK cells is now available.
Until now, a technology that could be used safely had not been established because proliferation of NK cells caused chromosomal abnormalities.

The new NK cell culture method we have adopted is a reliable technology that eliminates these problems.

While alpha-beta T lymphocytes target cancer cells that express HLA class I, NK cells target cancer cells with reduced or absent HLA class I expression and exhibit injurious properties. When cells are exposed to severe stress, they present stress-inducible proteins such as MICA on their cell surface. Stress-inducible proteins such as MICA are expressed in large amounts on the surface of cancer cells.
NK cells have a cell surface activation receptor called NKG2D that recognizes MICA and binds to it to kill cancer cells.

Since some cancers are composed of both HLA class I positive and HLA class I negative cancer cells, the ability to select between these two types of activated cells according to the patient’s needs is expected to enhance therapeutic efficacy.

In addition, NK cells play a central role in ADCC (antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity), the mechanism by which cancer cells are injured by antibody drugs, and synergistic effects with antibody drugs being developed by pharmaceutical companies are expected.

Outline of culture method

As with activated autologous lymphocyte therapy, mononuclear cells are aliquoted from the patient’s peripheral blood and used for culture.
When proliferating alpha-beta T lymphocytes, culture is initiated in flasks coated with anti-CD3 antibody.

On the other hand, when proliferating NK cells, antibodies that stimulate NK cells are used.
By using different media suitable for each cell, we selectively proliferate only αβ-type T lymphocytes or NK cells.

Bioaccell Inc.

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