Avectas announces publication in leading cell therapy journal Cytotherapy of 'A novel non-viral delivery method that enables efficient engineering of primary human T cells for ex vivo cell therapy applications'

SOLUPORE® technology enables the next-generation of gene-modified cell therapies

DUBLIN, May 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Irish based cell engineering company, Avectas today announces the publication of 'A novel non-viral delivery method that enables efficient engineering of primary human T cells for ex vivo cell therapy applications' in leading international cell and gene therapy publication, Cytotherapy.¹

Cytotherapy is the official journal of the International Cell & Gene Therapy Society (ISCT).

Dr Shirley O'Dea et al. examined the suitability of Avectas' SOLUPORE® non-viral delivery system for engineering primary human T cells for cell therapy applications. This publication describes how the next generation of immune cell therapy products will require complex modifications using engineering technologies that can maintain high levels of cell functionality and how non-viral engineering methods such as SOLUPORE® have the potential to address limitations associated with viral vectors.

Data demonstrates efficient transfection of human primary T Cells with mRNA and CRISPR CAS9 RNP cargos while consistently maintaining high levels of cell viability. Gene expression profiling revealed minimal up or down regulation of genes, demonstrating the low level of perturbation experienced by the cells during this transfection process in contrast to electroporation which resulted in substantial changes in immune gene expression. CAR T cells engineered using the SOLUPORE® system exhibited high cytotoxicity against target cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Avectas has previously published on the SOLUPORE® Technology in PLOS ONE² with citations in both Nature Biomedical Engineering³ and Chemical Reviews⁴.

Commenting on the publication, Dr Michael Maguire, CEO of Avectas, said: "It is impressive to see further published evidence showing the advantages of the SOLUPORE® platform in preserving cellular functionality essential for cell therapies. Congratulations to Avectas CSO, Dr Shirley O'Dea and the Avectas R&D team on this additional publication of important work to support the efficacy and potential of SOLUPORE® technology to the cell and gene therapy industry."

Using its patented SOLUPORE® technology, Avectas partners with leading cell and gene therapy companies and research institutions to enable the next-generation of gene-modified cell therapies.

1.  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1465324921001845 

2.  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/authors?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0174779

3.  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-018-0246-6

4.  https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00678

About Avectas

Avectas is a cell engineering company that has pioneered - SOLUPORE® - a proprietary, simple, highly effective automated non-viral cell engineering system to enable efficient and safe genetic modification, accelerating the manufacture of cells for the next generation of immuno-oncology therapies.

The company is partnering its cGMP aligned SOLUPORE® clinical-grade system with cell therapy companies to address emerging cell delivery challenges associated with multiple cell modifications and engineering of limited or fragile cells. Additionally, it will provide regulatory support to partners. Avectas is a private, international company with research facilities in Dublin, Ireland and Toronto, Canada, and an office in Cambridge, MA, USA. It has over 30 employees and is led by a team of highly experienced pharmaceutical executives supported by a world-class Scientific Advisory Board of cancer cell therapy experts.

For further information, see www.avectas.com.
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