Monoclonal T cell receptors to be used for vaccine validation
deal to develop new monoclonal T cell receptors that the vaccine
maker will use to develop and validate vaccines more efficiently.
Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines arm of Sanofi Aventis, will use novel high affinity monoclonal T cell receptors (mTCRs) to directly validate presentation of specific T cell epitopes important in vaccine development and clinical trials. Indeed, the current challenge for vaccine makers is the development of a method to identify and test short antigen peptides as potential T-cell epitopes. Peptide vaccines take the form of groups of short peptides - referred as T cell epitopes - capable of inducing T cell mediated immune response upon binding to allele specific HLA (human leukocyte antigen) molecules. Currently methods used to test peptide binding to most or all HLA molecules, using assays for example, are usually time consuming and expensive. MediGene's mTCRs technology enables the production of fully human, soluble T cell receptors with high affinity. These receptors bind to antigen targets on a cell in a manner analogous to monoclonal antibodies. Under the terms of the deal, MediGene will undertake the research programme using high affinity mTCRs which recognise specific HLA-peptide complexes on the surface of antigens presenting cells or tumour cells, in the aim of creating vaccine validation tools for Sanofi Pasteur. "We are currently developing mTCRs as therapeutics," Dr Georg Dönges, MediGene's spokesperson, told In-PharmaTechnologist.com. "However this new agreement shows the versatility of this new powerful technology." Dr Dönges said mTCRs have successfully showed to be effective at validating the presence of cancer antigen targets for therapeutic vaccine use, which offers significant advantages both during vaccine development and quality control (QC). "The use of the technology allows for a quicker validation and it enables Sanofi Pasteur to use the same test both for vaccine development and quality control processes," Dr Dönges said. He noted that the agreement with Sanofi Pasteur will enable the two companies to use the technology in areas where antibodies cannot penetrate. For example, mTCRs can be used to target intracellular antigens, such as NY-ESO and telomerase, that would escape detection by a conventional monoclonal antibody. It is the first deal the company has signed with a vaccine maker and while it could be open to other similar opportunities, MediGene said its primary goal remains to focus on the use of the mTCR technology for therapeutics.
