Project description
Universal Treg therapy for immune disorders
Autoimmune diseases and organ transplant rejection often cause harmful inflammation, which regulatory T cells (Tregs) can help control. Tregs hold promise as a ‘living drug’ for precision medicine yet customising them for each patient presents major logistical and economic hurdles. The ERC-funded epi-hiPSC-Treg project offers an innovative alternative: developing universal off-the-shelf Treg products using human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). This approach aims to differentiate hiPSCs into functional Tregs using epigenetic editing, modifying their DNA structure and gene expression. Building on prior research from the ERC EpiTune project, the team aims to pioneer a clinically viable Treg therapy. If successful, it could lead to scalable therapeutic solutions for treating autoimmune conditions and transplant complications.
Objective
Regulatory T cells (Treg) are a type of immune cell that can suppress harmful inflammation caused by autoimmune diseases or organ transplant rejection. Using Treg as a living drug is a promising form of precision medicine, but it faces many practical and economic challenges, such as the need to produce a specific cell product for each patient. A more feasible solution would be to create off-the-shelf Treg products that are readily available and can be used universally without customizing them for each patient. One way to do this is to use human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), which can be differentiated into many different cell types. However, for Tregs, this has not been achieved yet in a clinically relevant way.
In this proof of concept study, we will test our novel method of epigenetic editing on hiPSCs, which can modify the DNA structure and gene expression of the cells, to make them differentiate into functional Treg for their application in therapy. This method is based on our previous work in the ERC starting grant project EpiTune. If successful, it will open new avenues for the production of off-the-shelf therapeutic Treg products, which would mean a very important innovation for the field of Treg therapy.
For this project, we assembled a team of experts who have experience in developing and testing new T cell therapy products in the clinic, including regulatory affairs experts, IP protection professionals, and marketing strategists. If the PoC succeeds, their advice and guidance will help us prepare for the next steps of developing a clinical-grade manufacturing process.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
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Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept GrantsHost institution
10117 Berlin
Germany