An improved method for TIL expansion and screening; plus Metagenomi, Sitryx and more

University of Lausanne researchers unveiled in Nature Biotechnology a methodology for in vitro tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) expansion and screening that could improve the identification of patient-specific tumor antigens, a process that is complicated by the low frequency of tumor antigen-specific T cells. Unlike conventional methods solely based on culturing TILs in the presence of IL-2, the methodology, dubbed NeoScreen, involves early exposure of TILs generated from tumor fragments or dissociated tumor cells to antigens loaded on autologous antigen-presenting cells. When applied to samples from seven cancer patients, NeoScreen identified 19 tumor epitopes, 10 of which were not detected with conventional cultures.

Metagenomi Inc. said its type V CRISPR-associated nuclease, whose sequence is small enough to fit into an AAV vector, was “highly active in the liver” when delivered with lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) in mice. The company also said no pre-existing immunity to the nuclease was detected in a panel of 50 healthy human donors, while sera from one third to one half of donors contained antibodies to the most widely used Cas nuclease, Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9. The data were presented at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Liver Meeting...