2019 participants
Yijun Lin
Cervical cancer is characterised by abnormal cell growth in the lining of the cervix. These cancerous cells have the potential to spread to other parts of the body, thus making it life threatening. Cervical cancer is caused by infection from human papilloma virus (HPV), making it particularly suitable for immunotherapy. Immunotherapy utilises body’s own immune system to control and eliminate infections. However, in order to fight cancer, a large number of immune cells is needed. One way to achieve that is through genetic engineering to give a type of immune cells, called CD8+ T cells, the specific T cell receptor (TCR) which will recognise and kill abnormal cells. In this study, the technique of transferring the TCR into target cells was developed. The target cells used were the mouse BW CD8 ly2.2 cell line that is normally TCR negative. Results show that donor TCR can be successfully transferred to mouse T cells and the next step would be to implement this technique on human cells.
Funding source: Newcastle University
Project supervisor: Dr Lei Huang