Semmelweis TDK kérdések és válaszok

Vicenç Bonet Mateu-Julia, Bioinformatika szekció

A study of functional imaging possibilities to monitor Uni-CAR-T cell glioma therapy in a mouse model

1. Why did you use nude mice?

Answer: Nude mice have no capable or competent immune system, thus there is no reaction against the foreign tumour cells injected inside the brain of the animal. On the other hand, these mice have no hair, which allows us to use optic imaging methods without scattering of the light escaping the animal through the furry skin.

2. Why did we use the U251-PSMA+ cells? Are these cells modified?

Answer: Yes they are, we used them because of two reasons. The first because these cells express mCherry protein, making possible the optical imaging without the need for any material to be injected, thus being "non-invasive". The second reason is that these cells are modified to express PSM-antigen, which is an antigen expressed on many clinical glioma tumour cell lines. To target this in Uni-CAR-T cell therapy and attempt imaging using this antigen was for us of great interest, because of its later possible clinical translation.

3. What exactly is the Targeted Module?

Answer: The Target Module, or so-called Target Protein, is a molecule which is a protein which on one hand has the capacity to bind the CAR of the T cell, and on the other has the ability of recognizing a surface protein of the tumor cell (in our case PSMA, but it can be any other which is useful and specific to the tumour cells). By this connection and just by this connection the T-cells will be activated against the tumour, being the TM concentration in some studies proportional to the tumour cell destruction portion. Which means that this TM is the key or switch for the T-cell activation inside the system.