Immune cell-mediated tumor killing assays for cancer immunotherapy I CRO services

Explicyte Immuno-Oncology provides functional cellular assays to assess the killing efficacy of T cells and Natural Killer (NK) cells. Target tumor cell killing is measured over time, using timelapse imaging (Incucyte) and fluorescent probes to monitor tumor cell number and apoptosis. Various key immune cell subsets play an important role in mediating tumor cell death through several ways involving immune-mediated cell killing mechanisms such as T cell cytotoxicity-mediated killing and antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC), which result in the induction of target cell apoptosis. One of the current promising challenge in cancer immunotherapy is the potentiation of the specific elimination of tumor cells. While in vitro immune cell killing is recognized as perhaps one of the most relevant functional measures to evaluate the ability of candidate compounds or antibodies in promoting the effector immune function, many techniques have been developed and appropriate in vitro assays for the evaluation of the effectiveness of immunotherapeutics must more and more fulfill requirements in terms of high sensitivity and quantitative analysis, and should also allow the analysis of the tumor cell death occurring within days instead of hours. Explicyte is offering specialized in vitro T cell cytotoxicity-mediated killing assay and ADCC assay to evaluate the immunomodulatory function of test compounds / antibodies. Our sensitive and quantitative assays based on the use of 96-well plate co-culture of human tumor cells* and primary immune cells along with a live cell imaging platform enables the kinetic monitoring of the killing immune response towards tumor cells and thus analysis of cell death specifically within the tumor cell population. Explicyte is offering a specialized in vitro T cell cytotoxicity-mediated killing assay to evaluate the ability of test compounds to modulate the immune response of effector cell subsets. Our sensitive and quantitative assay is based on a 96-w plate co-culture of human tumor cells* and primary immune cells and consists in the kinetic monitoring of tumor cell proliferation and death thereby enabling to measure the killing immune response towards tumor cells by analyzing cell death specifically within the tumor cell population. Understanding the processes of the immune system and its interactions with tumor cells and gaining deeper insights into mechanisms involved in their destruction are essential to identify and validate new targets and assess novel therapeutic approaches. While one of the promising cancer immunotherapy challenges is the potentiation of immune cell attacks of tumor cells, in vitro immune cell-mediated killing is recognized among the most relevant functional measures to evaluate the ability of lead items to promote the functions of effector immune cells, thereby representing a valuable tool for immuno-oncology drug discovery.
We designed specialized in vitro immune cell-mediated killing assays to assess immunomodulatory lead drugs for their ability to enhance the immune response against tumor cells. While based on co-cultures of human immune cells and target tumor cells, our assays allow for the parallel capture of the immune response and tumor sensitivity. Interestingly, they can thus be used to evaluate lead drugs for their potential to enable tumor cell destruction by immune cells according to various possible immunotherapy strategies: by blocking immune checkpoints; by activating T cells (via TCR ligation or involving other (co)stimulatory receptors); by bridging immune cells to their targets thus physically engaging immune and tumor cells to redirect the response;through ADCC mechanisms; by enhancing DC-mediated tumor antigen presentation for the priming of tumor antigen-specific cytotoxic lymphocytes and induction of an adaptive effector T cell-mediated killing response.