Pluripotent stem cells as a source for T cell research and clinical application

Abstract

Recently, promising clinical outcomes of cancer immunotherapy including administration of an anti PD-1 antibody targeting for T cell reactivation has gained particular attention worldwide. Adoptive cell therapy with tumor infiltrating lymphocytes and TCR/CAR (Chimeric Antigen Receptor) transgenic T cells are also under development. Although it has become clearer that the efficacy of adoptive cell therapy correlate with the quality of infusing T cells, antigen specific T cells in patients with chronic infection and cancer have been exhausted. We have succeeded to generate rejuvenated antigen specific T cells by reprogramming to pluripotency and differentiation. In this article, we introduce fundamentals of this technology and describe its potential for adoptive cell therapy in the future.