T-zell-transfer

Interactions between various immune cells are necessary for an effective tumour defence, with T lymphocytes playing a central role. Cytotoxic T cells and T helper cells recognise so called tumour antigens and have a synergistic effect on the destruction of tumour cells. Recently, novel techniques have been developed to produce antigen-specific T cells in vitro, which is a requirement for adoptive transfer. In principle, there are three possibilities: the use of tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) as a source of tumour-reactive T cells, the isolation of tumour-reactive T cells from the peripheral blood, and the construction of antigen-specific T cells. All three technologies are based on the generation of T cells which are reactive with the tumour antigen.