ISTOCK, BIOGEEKImmunotherapy, which involves adapting immune cells to destroy specific cellular targets, has made a name for itself treating cancer. But over the last few years, a handful of research groups have advanced T-cell therapies for viral infections, and are now on the cusp of commercialization. “Using T cells to target infectious diseases is not a new field,” says immunologist Michael Keller of Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., “but it’s something that’s expanding a great deal.”
A handful of groups in the U.S. offer donated T cells engineered in-house as antiviral therapies to bone marrow transplant patients, who are vulnerable to infections from common viruses. The treatments are still experimental, reaching only small numbers of patients so far. But almost 50,000 people a year receive blood-producing stem cell transplants and could potentially be helped by such an intervention. Keller is among those trying to advance antiviral immunotherapy. At Children’s National, for instance, he and colleagues have several ongoing Phase 1 and 2 trials that may help set the standard for bone marrow transplant treatment.
For now, such treatments are limited by the number of available bone marrow donors and the diversity of their blood types and history of viral exposure. But ...
