Antigen Identification for Targeted Immunotherapy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current therapies for viral infections and cancer are limited by the lack of effective treatments for immunocompromised individuals post-hematopoietic stem cell transplant, where graft versus host disease, primary disease relapse, and viral infections remain major causes of morbidity and mortality, and existing antiviral drugs are not always effective.
Innovation Solution
The development of methods and compositions for generating immunotherapies that identify and prioritize immunogenic antigens from pathogens or cancer cells, using adoptive T-cell therapy, monoclonal antibodies, and other immune cell therapies to target specific antigens, with a process involving in vitro stimulation and ranking of antigen immunogenicity to determine the most effective therapeutic targets.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If antiviral drugs are used to treat viral infections in post-transplant patients, then viral infections can be treated, but the drugs are not always effective and cause limited therapeutic outcomes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces virus-specific T cells as an intermediary biological agent that mediates the immune response against viral infections. These T cells are extracted from donors, expanded ex vivo, and transferred to patients to directly target and eliminate infected cells, providing a more reliable and effective treatment mechanism compared to conventional antiviral drugs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables the patient's own immune system to fight the infection by transferring virus-specific T cells that will autonomously recognize, target, and destroy virus-infected cells. The transferred T cells self-organize and self-regulate to provide targeted immunity without requiring continuous external drug intervention.
2Measurement precision
If multiple antigens are tested to identify the most immunogenic ones, then the most effective therapeutic targets can be identified, but the process becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the patient's own T cells to perform the screening function. By exposing the patient's T cells to multiple candidate antigens and measuring the immune response, the system self-identifies which antigens are most immunogenic for that specific patient, eliminating the need for complex external screening assays.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the immune response to each antigen is measured and used to guide the selection of the most immunogenic antigens for therapy. The quantitated immune responses provide feedback that ranks antigens by immunogenicity, allowing selection of the best therapeutic targets based on actual patient-specific data.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of the disclosure concern methods of identifying whether or not antigens from a particular pathogen are immunogenic, including the order of their immunogenicity. Other embodiments concern correlations between attributes of T cells and their clinical efficacy, such as mathematical representations thereof.