London [UK], January 20 (ANI): Researchers have discovered a reliable method to grow helper T cells from stem cells, overcoming a key challenge in immune-based cancer therapy. Helper T cells, often described as the immune system’s conductors, coordinate other immune cells to sustain and strengthen responses against disease.
The study, conducted at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and published in Cell Stem Cell on January 7, demonstrates for the first time a consistent way to produce human helper T cells in a controlled laboratory setting. This breakthrough could pave the way for off-the-shelf cell therapies that are faster, more affordable, and more widely accessible.
The Promise and Limits of Living Drugs
Engineered cell therapies, such as CAR-T treatments, have transformed medicine by reprogramming a patient’s immune cells to target and destroy cancerous or infected cells—effectively turning them into “living drugs.” Despite their success, these therapies remain costly, complex, and often out of reach, largely because they rely on a patient’s own cells, which must be collected and prepared individually over several weeks.
Co-senior author Dr. Megan Levings, a professor of surgery and biomedical engineering at UBC, said, “The long-term goal is to have off-the-shelf cell therapies manufactured ahead of time from renewable sources like stem cells. This would make treatments more cost-effective and immediately available when patients need them.”
Helper and Killer T Cells: A Coordinated Approach
Effective cancer cell therapies require two types of immune cells working in tandem. Killer T cells directly attack diseased cells, while helper T cells coordinate immune responses, activate other cells, and sustain long-term immunity. While previous research has enabled the lab production of killer T cells, generating helper T cells reliably had remained a major obstacle.
Dr. Levings emphasized, “Helper T cells are essential for a strong and lasting immune response. Both types are critical to maximize the efficacy of off-the-shelf therapies.”
A Key Scientific Breakthrough
The UBC team addressed this challenge by precisely regulating biological signals that guide stem cell development. They identified that the Notch signaling pathway plays a crucial but time-sensitive role: it is necessary early for immune cell formation but can block helper T cell development if overactivated.
“By fine-tuning when and how much this signal is reduced, we could direct stem cells to become either helper or killer T cells,” said co-first author Dr. Ross Jones, a research associate in the Zandstra Lab. The lab-grown helper T cells were shown to function like natural immune cells, maturing fully, expressing diverse immune receptors, and differentiating into specialized subtypes.
Kevin Salim, a UBC PhD student and co-first author, added, “These cells look and act like genuine human helper T cells, which is critical for their future therapeutic potential.”
Implications for Immune Therapies
The ability to generate both helper and killer T cells—and to control their balance—could greatly enhance the effectiveness of stem cell-derived therapies. Dr. Peter Zandstra, co-senior author and director of the UBC School of Biomedical Engineering, said, “This is a major step forward in developing scalable and affordable immune cell therapies. It lays the foundation for testing helper T cells in cancer treatment and for creating new therapeutic cell types, including regulatory T cells, for clinical use.”
This breakthrough brings off-the-shelf immune cell therapies closer to reality, promising faster, cheaper, and more accessible treatments for cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. (ANI)
About The Author
