Preclinical immuno-oncology
Immuno-Oncology Cell-Based Assays: Efficacy & MoA
Explicyte is a preclinical immuno-oncology CRO providing human cell-based assays to characterize the functional activity and mechanism of action of novel immunotherapies and other oncology therapeutics.
For over ten years, our team has supported drug developers from early screening through mechanism-of-action studies.
Our cell-based assays use cultures or co-cultures of primary human immune cells and tumor cell lines, with relevant reference therapies and molecules incorporated where appropriate — a robust starting point that we adapt to each program and biological question.
From early screening to mechanism of action
Functional in vitro data to inform your next decision
Behind every readout are three things we hold constant — models built with characterized human donors, assays designed for reproducible screening and downstream analysis, and experimental conditions tailored to each program.
Characterized models
Primary human immune cells from characterized donors, co-cultured together, or with tumor cells across 100+ lines. Relevant reference therapies and molecules are used to provide context for the observed response.
Scalable assays
Target and effector cell responses captured within the same experimental workflow, with compatible formats enabling downstream secretome, flow cytometry, or transcriptomic analysis.
Assay customization
With over 10 years of experience across multiple therapeutic modalities, we tune donor panel, immune cell subsets, effector-to-target ratios, exposure conditions, readouts, and assay window to each program.
Tumor killing and cytotoxicity assays
Measure how your candidate kills tumor cells
Several assay formats capture direct and immune cell-mediated tumor killing — from a candidate's intrinsic cytotoxicity to antigen-specific, T-cell mediated and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity.
Tumor cells only
Tumor killing
Measure direct cytotoxicity against tumor cells
Direct killing for ADCs and cytotoxic payloads
Immune-tumor cell cultures
T-cell mediated tumor killing
Measure tumor cell killing by T cells in response to your candidate
For mAbs, bispecific/multispecific T-cell engagers, CAR-Ts programs
Antigen-primed T-cell co-cultures
Tumor antigen-specific killing
Assess antigen-specific T cell priming and resulting tumor killing response
For cancer vaccines, TCR-T and neoantigen programs
NK effector co-cultures
ADCC
Assess antibody-dependent tumor cell killing mediated by NK effectors
Across primary NK cell donor panels
Immune function, modulation & cell migration assays
Characterize how your candidate modulates the immune response
Cell-based assays to investigate how a candidate activates, suppresses, recruits, or functionally reprograms immune cells in defined experimental systems.
Primary T & NK cells
Immune cell activation
Quantify immune cell activation markers, proliferation and effector function in isolated immune-cell or tumor co-culture systems, depending on the therapeutic mechanism.
For agonists, cytokines and immune cell engagers
Kinetic transwell migration
Cell Migration & Chemotaxis
Assess immune-cell chemotaxis and tumor-cell migration under defined chemotactic and microenvironmental conditions.
For immune-cell recruitment, chemokine-axis and tumor-migration studies
Multiplex secretome
Cytokine release
Characterize cytokine release profiles across immune cell populations in response to treatment.
Multiplex cytokine and secretome readouts, proteomics where relevant
Human monocyte-derived macrophages
Macrophage Polarization & Functional Modulation
Characterize compound-associated changes in defined M1/M2-like macrophage phenotypes and macrophage-associated immune-cell responses.
For macrophage- and myeloid-directed therapeutic strategies
Allogeneic moDC/CD4+ T-cell co-culture
Mixed Lymphocyte Reaction (MLR)
Characterize compound effects on dendritic-cell function and the resulting allogeneic CD4+ T-cell response across independent donor pairs.
For immune-modulatory, checkpoint and pathway-targeting strategies
Human tonsil-derived Tfh–B-cell co-culture
Germinal center reaction
Characterize Tfh-supported B-cell function, phenotype and differentiation, antibody secretion and associated cytokine responses.
For B-cell-directed strategies and functional studies relevant to germinal-center and TLS-associated biology
Paul Marteau, PharmD (study director), Imane Nafia, PhD (CSO), Loïc Cerf, MSc (COO), Alban Bessede, PhD (founder, CEO), Jean-Philippe Guégan, PhD (CTO)
Contact our team
Tell us about your program & request a quote
Tell us about your candidate and the mechanism you need to characterize — we'll propose an assay design matched to your program.
Frequently asked questions
Immuno-oncology cell-based assays: common questions
What are immuno-oncology cell-based assays?
What is the difference between a functional readout and mechanistic characterization?
A functional readout measures what happens in the assay, such as tumor-cell killing, immune-cell activation, cytokine release, antibody secretion or cell migration. Mechanistic characterization adds cellular, phenotypic or molecular information to help determine which biological processes are associated with that response. Depending on the study design, this can include flow cytometry immunophenotyping, cytokine profiling, proteomics, transcriptomics and pathway-focused analyses.
Which cellular models can be used?
Depending on the biological question, studies can use primary human T or NK cells, monocyte-derived macrophages or dendritic cells, tonsil-derived Tfh and B-cell populations, and selected established tumor-cell models. Assays can be run as single-cell-population systems or defined co-cultures, with donor selection and model configuration adapted to the compound and study objective.
Which drug modalities do these assays support?
What readouts can you combine in a single assay?
A single killing or activation assay can return cytotoxicity (image-based or biochemical), immune cell phenotype by multiplex flow cytometry, a cytokine and secretome profile (multiplex cytokine analysis, proteomics), and, where relevant, transcriptomics including single-cell RNA sequencing and Xenium STAMP. Non-destructive formats let supernatant and cellular content be saved for downstream profiling.
Can assays be customized to my program?
Yes. Donor panel, cell subset selection, culture ratios and format, treatment exposure window, controls and combinations, assay duration and kinetics, readout multiplexing, and sampling frequency are all configurable. Assay design is matched to the candidate, its mechanism, and the development stage.
Are your candidates benchmarked against standard-of-care?
Where relevant, studies include standard-of-care therapies, benchmark molecules or mechanism-appropriate positive and negative controls to provide context for the observed response.
Which cell-based assay is appropriate for my program?
The assay format is selected according to the biological question and expected compound activity. Tumor-killing assays evaluate direct or immune-mediated cytotoxicity; immune-activation assays characterize effector-cell responses; macrophage assays evaluate polarization and functional modulation; MLR assays investigate dendritic-cell/T-cell responses; germinal-center assays probe Tfh–B-cell interactions; and migration assays quantify immune-cell chemotaxis or tumor-cell migration. Multiple assay formats can be combined when a program requires complementary functional questions to be addressed.
