Oncology and Immuno-Oncology INSIGHTS

Humanized immune system mice are revolutionary research tools for the development of novel immune cell-targeting oncology therapeutics, but the use of first-generation models such as the huNOG (NOG mice engrafted with human CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells) has been limited for some applications by impaired human myeloid cell differentiation. Several investigators sought to understand the mechanistic bottleneck and identified evolutionary disparities between mouse cytokine growth factors and human...  Read More

Humanized immune system mice generated by engrafting immunodeficient hosts with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) have been critical tools for evaluating T-cell dependent immunotherapies. However, novel immunodeficient hosts are demonstrating their ability to extend the utility of PBMC-humanization beyond conventional T-cell focused work. The hIL-15 NOG mouse carries a transgene expressing human IL-15 and, unlike conventional immunodeficient models, has been shown to facilitate human NK cell...  Read More

CAR T cell (CAR-T) therapy is a relatively recent immunotherapy with the first drugs approved for human use by the FDA in 2017. This type of immunotherapeutic utilizes T cells extracted from patient blood which are subsequently modified to target cancer cells. The modification enables these cells to express the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) on the cellular surface, directing the CAR T cells to recognize and kill...  Read More

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and there is some good news to share in 2019. Over the last year, three new drugs have been approved by the FDA to treat various forms of the disease, among them an immunotherapy for metastatic or unresectable breast cancer. This Insight will highlight these new drugs and how they act to treat various forms of breast cancer. FDA Approves...  Read More

The term xenograft refers to a tissue or organ that is derived from a species that is different from the recipient of the specimen. They are powerful research tools in oncology as well as essential for treating wounds in the clinic. This Insight will highlight a few key uses of xenografts and why they are important to research studies. Xenografts in the Treatment of Skin Injuries In...  Read More

A recent article published in the Columbia Magazine highlights the work of researcher Angela Christiano and her radical solutions to addressing baldness. Dr. Christiano has been working on studies involving hair loss since 1996, with one of her most notable achievements being the discovery of a 'hairless gene' (HR) in 19981. One of her recent advancements in this field has been the growth of human hair follicles...  Read More

With most of the United States experiencing warmer weather, increased sun exposure can lead to an increased risk of developing skin cancer. There are more new cases of skin cancer in the US each year than breast, prostate, lung, and colon cancers combined. The most dangerous form of skin cancer is melanoma, which if left untreated can metastasize to other locations within the body1. Detecting Skin Cancer...  Read More

Through this excerpt from Taconic Biosciences' Webinar, "Advanced Toolkit For Syngeneic Tumor Modeling in Mice," Dr. Philip Dubé considers the role of genetic background when identifying the proper syngeneic model as well as the importance of validating substrain and specific cell line. Syngeneic models depend on the implanted tumor cell not being rejected by the immune system; it is crucial that cell lines are genetically matched to...  Read More

Prostate cancer will likely remain among the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in men until improved therapies for advanced metastatic disease become available. According to Dr. Steve Kregel, a postdoctoral researcher working with Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan at the University of Michigan, a key barrier to improving prostate cancer therapies is the woefully inadequate models of metastatic disease used in preclinical drug testing. At the 2019 American Association...  Read More

The power of chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy has been demonstrated in the unparalleled clinical efficacy of the FDA approved anti CD19-CAR-T cell treatment for B-cell malignancies5. However, development of CAR-T immunotherapy from the liquid to the solid tumor front has been difficult with numerous challenges3,4. Could IL-2 NOG humanized mice be the tool researchers need to bridge this gap? T-Cell Therapy Challenges To date,...  Read More