Patent ID: 8759014
Filing Date: 2014-06-24
Classification: A61K,A61P,C12N,C12Q,G01N

Abstract:
1. A method of obtaining a clinical grade population of naturally existing cancer antigen-specific T cells from peripheral blood of a host that has not been treated with an agent which affects T cell numbers in the peripheral blood, comprising: (i) dividing peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from peripheral blood of a host into more than one sub-population, wherein the host has not been treated with an agent which affects the number of T cells in the peripheral blood; (ii) contacting the PBMCs of each sub-population with a cancer antigen and Interleukin-2 (IL-2); (iii) obtaining a sample of the contacted PBMCs from each sub-population; (iv) identifying a cancer antigen-reactive sub-population by determining by high throughput quantitative PCR (HT-qPCR) the expression of a factor produced by the PBMCs of each sample; (v) dividing the cancer antigen-reactive sub-population into microcultures; (vi) identifying a cancer antigen-reactive microculture; and (vii) expanding the microculture, thereby obtaining a clinical grade population of T cells specific for the cancer antigen, wherein the number of PBMCs of the cancer antigen-reactive sub-population identified in (iv) is less than about 10% of the number of PBMCs of (i).