TC BioPharm – CAR T therapy

TC BioPharm: Mechanism of Action Animation

This 2D/3D animation shows the Mechanism of Action of TC BioPharm’s engineered gamma delta T-cells in the CAR T therapy against cancer.

First, we explain the current problem with the conventional CAR T therapy – the risk of killing not only tumor cells, but also healthy cells, which results in serious side effects, often undermining the efficiency of the therapy.

Then we introduce the solution – TC BioPharm’s approach, where instead of ‘standard’ T-cells, enhanced gamma delta T-cells are used, which work more selectively – killing tumor cells, without the risk of damaging healthy cells.

You can read more about the new approach in this great article – Gamma Delta T Cells: A New Hope Against Cancer.

THE STYLE

As it was very important to explain the complex Mechanism of Action well, we’ve decided not to distract the viewer with too many 3D camera angles and movements. The single elements were modeled in 3D, achieving high detail, while the animation itself was made in 2.5D, creating the feeling of depth and realism, while at the same time staying in a single shot throughout most of the video.

THE STORY

Chimeric antigen receptors, or CARs, are a promising approach to cancer therapy that uses human T-cells. In conventional CAR T, when the CAR binds to a cancer cell, 2 stimulatory signals are triggered, and the T-cell gets activated to kill the cancer cell. Unfortunately, CARs may also bind to target antigens on healthy cells and kill them. This can result in very serious side effects.

TC BioPharm improves the safety profile of CAR T therapy by selecting a special type of T-cell called a gamma delta T-cell. They are different from the majority of T-cells – known as alpha beta T-cells – because they have a T-cell receptor (TCR) that detects stressed or cancer cells.

At TC BioPharm, gamma delta T-cells are engineered with a modified CAR that has only one stimulatory domain. The primary stimulatory domain is part of the natural gamma delta TCR. This TCR acts like a safety catch, because the T cell can only be fully activated when the TCR recognizes stress signals such as those on tumor cells. Only then will the target cell be killed, assisted by the CAR stimulation.

If a CAR binds to a healthy cell, the TCR does not bind, and only one signal is triggered. The T-cell is not activated, and the healthy cell is not killed. As a result, dangerous side effects of CAR T therapy are greatly reduced, while selectively maintaining potent anti-cancer activity.

TC BioPharm has built innovative platform technologies around gamma delta T-cells and is developing a pipeline of allogeneic drugs to treat a range of hematological and solid cancers.

Learn more at www.tcbiopharm.com

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