The TCR-T therapy that makes up for the shortcomings of CAR-T is favored by capital, and the prospects are promising

On August 3, T-knife Therapeutics announced that it has completed a Series B financing of US$110 million

TCR (T cell receptor), a specific receptor on the surface of T cells, binds to CD3 with non-covalent bonds to form a TCR-CD3 complex, which activates T cells by recognizing and binding antigens presented by MHC, and promotes T cell growth Division and differentiation

The mechanism of TCR-T is to introduce new genes into ordinary T cells, so that the modified T cells can express TCR that effectively recognizes tumor cells, thereby guiding T cells to kill tumor cells

TCR-T treatment process (Source: Xiangxue Pharmaceutical official website)

T-knife Therapeutics’ TK-8001 is developed using the company’s humanized T cell receptor (HuTCR) mouse platform.

Diagram of HuTCR transgenic mouse technology platform (Source: T-knife official website)

Specializing in solid tumors

TCR-T makes up for the shortcomings of CAR-T

Since CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell) therapy was launched in 2017, cell therapy has officially entered the medical and health arena.

Both TCR-T and CAR-T are adoptive immune cell therapy, that is, immune cells are separated from tumor patients, genetically modified and amplified in vitro, and then injected back into the patient

CAR-T cells use antibody fragments that bind to specific antigens on the surface of cancer cells

Becoming a research hotspot

Many domestic pharmaceutical companies deploy TCR-T therapy

The global TCR-T therapy is mainly aimed at the solid tumor market and has become a research hotspot in the world

⚪Xiangxue precision

Xiangxue Precision Medical Technology Co.

At present, a full coverage R&D platform has been established from TCR-T product R&D, preparation, quality control, product industrialization to clinical transformation, and a product pipeline covering most of the population's genotypes

⚪ days Keya

Guangdong Tiankeya Biomedical Technology Co.

TRUST platform: Original TCR screening platform to solve the pain points of lack of targets

CHECK-T cell transformation platform: CHECK-T cell transformation platform helps the pain points of immune suppression

TURBO-T cell transformation platform: the ultimate weapon to challenge the heterogeneity of tumor cells

The company's first batch of pipelines to enter clinical trials are for tumors caused by viral infections, such as EBV and HPV, which are currently in phase II

⚪Kerui Bio

Kerui Biotechnology was established in 2015.

Kerui Bio has established a relatively complete TCR-T research and development technology system, covering specific tumor antigen screening and identification, T cell immune epitope identification, epitope-specific TCR cloning, TCR affinity optimization and TCR preclinical verification and other technology platforms.
A clinical trial of TCR-T for the treatment of lung cancer has been initiated
.

TCR-T therapy

Huge market potential

Affected by changes in various factors such as economy, society, environment and life>
.
The China Investment Consulting Industry Research Center predicts that 10% of new cancer patients will choose CAR-T and TCR-T immune cell therapy.
According to the price of 300,000 per person, CAR-T and TCR will be used by 2023.
-T tumor cell immunotherapy market scale can reach 160 billion yuan
.

TCR-T therapy is currently still in the experimental stage, and further research and improvement are needed in the future, including how to effectively target and screen TCR, and how to conduct a reasonable TCR-T clinical trial design
.
At present, there are no related products on the market at home and abroad
.
If the research and development goes well, it is expected to be approved for listing by the end of 2022
.
I hope that in the near future, through the unremitting efforts of scientific researchers and enterprises, TCR-T therapy will surely play an important role in solid tumors and other fields
.

refer to:

1.
T-knife Therapeutics Announces $110 Million Series B Financing to Advance Pipeline of T-cell Receptor Therapies.
Retrieved August 2.
2021.
from https:// /0/en/T-knife-Therapeutics-Announces-110-Million-Series-B-Financing-to-Advance-Pipeline-of-T-cell-Receptor-Therapies.
html.

2.
Liu Q et al.
Cancer immunotherapy using T-cell receptor engineered T cell.
Annals of Blood (2020).

3.
http://