Researchers at the University of British Columbia have shown how to reliably create helper T cells, which are immune cells that coordinate the body's defense against threats, from stem cells in a lab. Stem cells are basic cells that can develop into many different types. This finding solves a key problem in making cell therapies that use modified cells to fight diseases. These therapies could become more affordable and easier to produce on a large scale, helping treat conditions like cancer, infections, and autoimmune disorders, where the immune system attacks the body by mistake.
Cell therapies work by changing human immune cells into living drugs that target and destroy harmful cells. In recent years, treatments like CAR-T therapy, which reprograms T cells to attack cancer, have saved lives for patients with hard-to-treat diseases. However, most therapies now use cells from the patient, making them costly and slow to prepare. The aim is to use stem cells as a renewable source to make off-the-shelf therapies that are ready ahead of time. This research is published in Cell Stem Cell.
Overcoming production hurdles
Effective therapies need both killer T cells, which directly kill infected or cancerous cells, and helper T cells to detect threats, activate other immune parts, and keep responses going. While labs could already make killer T cells from stem cells, producing helper T cells was not reliable until now. The researchers fixed this by carefully controlling a signal called Notch during cell growth. Notch is a biological message that guides cell development, but if it stays active too long, it blocks helper T cells from forming. By adjusting when and how much this signal decreases, they directed stem cells to become either helper or killer T cells in controlled conditions suitable for manufacturing.
The lab-made helper T cells match real ones in appearance and function. They show signs of mature, healthy cells, have varied immune receptors, which are proteins that recognize specific threats, and can form subtypes with different roles in immunity. This control over cell types could boost therapy strength against cancer and lead to new uses, like creating regulatory T cells that calm overactive immune responses.