ToolGen Announces Poster Presentation On Genome Editing Of Human T Cells At 2017 American Society For Gene And Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting
SEOUL, South Korea, May 15, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ToolGen, Inc. (KONEX, 199800), a biotechnology company specializing in genome editing, presented results from a study highlighting the use of CRISPR/Cas9 nucleases for specific and efficient genome editing in human primary T-cells, without causing severe cell damage and growth retardation in a poster presentation at the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting being held in Washington, DC from May 10-13, 2017.
The poster presentation entitled “Genome editing of human T cells to generate CAR-T cells with enhanced antitumor function” aimed to study the proposed idea that T-cell anergy serves to induce dysfunction in a wide variety of tumor microenvironments. Using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing, the researchers were able to successfully knock out DGKa, a tolerance-associated gene at an 80% efficiency rate, which allowed T-cells to reverse hypofunction induced by anergy. Based on this result, the researchers combined the lentiviral delivery of CAR and the electroporation of RNP to generate a CRISPR gene-edited CAR-T cell. These edited CAR-T cells demonstrated lower sensitivity to immunosuppressive conditions and were hyper-responsive against tumor cells.
“We are honored to be recognized by ASGCT for our work using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing,” commented Seokjoong Kim, Research Director at Toolgen. “The data presented in the poster presentation demonstrates preliminary success in utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 nucleases for specific and efficient gene editing in human primary T-cells. The findings suggest that CAR and TCR T cells with a disrupted anergy-related gene may be potent effector cells against various cancers. We believe that these results continue to validate our approach to gene editing and provide support for further research to move our pipeline of opportunities into the clinic.”
The authors of the presentation were Yoon-Young Kim, In Young Jung, Ho Sung Yu1, Seokjoong Kim, R&D Center, Toolgen, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
About ToolGen, Inc.
ToolGen, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on the development and application of genome editing technologies. It creates, and holds intellectual property rights for essential tools and technologies for editing the genetic information in microbial, plant, animal, and human cells. ToolGen’s mission is to translate the potential of our innovative platform technology into transformative products for biomedicine and agriculture. For more information, please visit www.toolgen.com.
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