Livnat Jerby, PhD

T cell therapies use T cells as “living drugs.” They work very well when used to treat some blood cancers, but do not work well for treating most types of solid tumors, partly because not enough T cells find and get into the tumor. We found a way to guide T cells to tumors. Tumors release certain types of small chemicals. We can give T cells special sensors on their surface that act like “chemical antennas.” With these sensors, T cells detect tumor chemicals and follow them like a scent trail. This helps T cells to find, attack, and, in turn, destroy tumors. Now we want to use what we found to create a new class of cell therapies. To do that, we will first test this new treatment very comprehensively in mice to examine whether it is ready to be tested in patients. Second, while we are currently using sensors that already exist in nature, we will create new types of synthetic sensors to make T cells even better. Finally, because different tumors may release different chemicals, we will test multiple sensors across different tumor types and develop a simple test that doctors could potentially use one day to match the right sensor for a given tumor or patient. If successful, this work will be a critical step toward powerful and potentially curative treatments for patients with solid tumors.