Transgenic mice with with highly effective components of the human immune system
How can the immune system be made more potent against cancer? To solve this crucial question, Dr. Liang-Ping Li and Professor Thomas Blankenstein of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin in Germany have dedicated ten years of research to develop a new method. The researchers modified T cell receptors (TCRs), the antenna-like structures of T cells, so that they would no longer ignore cancer cells, but instead specifically track and recognize them. This modification is the precondition for the immune system to destroy cancer cells. The researchers developed a mouse with a whole repertoire of these human T cell receptors with the aim of utilizing these receptors in the future for targeted immunotherapy in patients.