Quality assessment of metabolic fitness during T cell and NK cell expansion

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Presentation Time: 03:15 PM - 04:30 PM
Poster Board Number: B828
Abstract ID: 5513

Presenting Author:
Guoxiao Wang , Research Scientist at Agilent Tech.

Abstract:

CAR-T cells have revolutionized cancer treatment, and other cell types like CAR-NK cells are also showing promising results. Engineered cells generally need to be expanded ex vivo before being transfused into patients. Growth conditions, including expansion platform, cell culture media, and cytokine composition, time of expansion, etc., can have a strong effect on the characteristics of the final products and need to be monitored to establish the appropriate development process.  

Recent developments highlight the significance of cell metabolism in influencing immune responses and the anti-tumor efficacy of cell therapies. In the present study, we utilized Seahorse XF technology and assays to characterize T cell and NK cell metabolic fitness during cell expansion. We cultured human T cells and NK cells under different expansion conditions including culture media, culture devices, and cytokine combinations, and sampled cells at different time points for quality assessment of metabolic fitness. Using the new Seahorse XF assay alongside immunophenotypic characterization using Novocyte Flow Cytometry, we obtained robust information on mitochondrial and glycolytic energy production, metabolic poise, and the bioenergetic capacity of the expanded cells, allowing us to identify conditions that resulted in increased metabolic fitness of the cell population that can contribute to defining cell expansion conditions during immunotherapy development.