The Yale laboratory of Sidi Chen, assistant professor of genetics in the Systems Biology Institute and Yale Cancer Center, has developed advanced gene-editing and screening technology to find new targets for cancer immunotherapy.

In a new study published Sept. 23 in Nature Biotechnology, Chen and colleagues report that using T cells containing modifications of those gene targets reduced tumors in a mouse model of glioblastoma, a brain cancer that is especially difficult to treat.

The brain has a very limited immune system activity and therefore is not a particularly promising organ for immunotherapy, note the researchers. Chen’s lab developed a sophisticated viral vector with an embedded transposon, or jumping gene, that facilitates the genetic screening capabilities of T cells.

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Image: Multi-colored markers of the immune system are captured in glioblastoma tumors.  CREDIT: Yale University