Publications by authors named "Andriana Stamopoulou"

Background: Macrophages have recently become attractive therapeutics in cancer immunotherapy. The potential of macrophages to infiltrate and influence solid malignancies makes them promising targets for the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology to redirect their stage of polarization, thus enhancing their anticancer capacities. Given the emerging interest for CAR-macrophages, generation of such cells so far mainly depends on peripheral blood monocytes, which are isolated from the respective donor prior to genetic manipulation.

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Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cells can be highly effective in the treatment of hematological malignancies, but mostly fail in the treatment of solid tumors. Thus, approaches using 4 advanced CAR T cells secreting immunomodulatory cytokines upon CAR signaling, known as TRUCKs (""), are currently under investigation. Based on our previous development and validation of automated and closed processing for GMP-compliant manufacturing of CAR T cells, we here present the proof of feasibility for translation of this method to TRUCKs.

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Article Synopsis
  • CAR T-cell therapies have been successful in treating blood cancers but struggle with solid tumors, leading researchers to explore macrophages (MΦs) as a new candidate for CAR therapy.
  • Initial studies used peripheral blood monocytes, but some patients may not be suitable for this method, prompting the need for alternative cell sources.
  • This research introduces human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) as a new option to create functional CAR MΦs, demonstrating successful CAR expression and enhanced immune responses against solid tumors.
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Immune cell therapeutics are increasingly applied in oncology. Especially chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are successfully used to treat several B cell malignancies. Efforts to engineer CAR T cells for improved activity against solid tumors include co-delivery of pro-inflammatory cytokines in addition to CARs, either constitutive cytokine expression or inducible cytokine expression triggered by CAR recognition of its target antigen-so-called "T cells redirected for universal cytokine-mediated killing" (TRUCKs) or fourth-generation CARs.

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Coup-TF, a member of the nuclear receptor super-family, is present in the pool of maternal mRNAs and proteins in the sea urchin egg. The presence of this protein seems to be essential for the execution of the early developmental program, leading to all three embryonic layers. Our results demonstrate that Pl-Coup-TF morphants, i.

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