The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to James P. Allison of the United States and Tasuku Honjo of Japan for their work on unleashing the body’s immune system to attack cancer, a breakthrough that has herald in an entirely new class of treatment called “Immunotherapy” and brought lasting remissions to many patients who had run out of options. Unlike the conventional methods of cancer treatment that consists of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy or some combination of these therapies, immunotherapy targets the immune system to fight against cancer.

One of the most promising areas of cancer immunotherapy that has seen great clinical success is chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cells. CAR T-cell therapy modifies a patients own immune system to directly attack cancer cells.

T cells are a type of white blood cell that are the “workhorses” of the immune system. In a course of CAR T-cell therapy, a patient’s own T cells are extracted and genetically modified to express a chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, that recognizes a protein on the surface of the cancer cells and attacks them. Once these T cells are modified, they are expanded in the laboratory over the period of two to three weeks. The modified T cells are then infused back into the patient, where they identify and destroy cancer cells all over the body.

At Noble Life Sciences, we offer a portfolio of both xenograft and syngeneic models that our clients may use to assess the in vivo efficacy of their novel CAR T cells and other cell therapy products. We can meet a variety of study endpoints to generate high-quality and reproducible data that your studies need. Noble also offers live animal imaging for preclinical studies using PerkinElmer IVIS Lumina LT III to non-invasively monitor and quantify tumor growth longitudinally in tumor bearing mice following CAR T cell treatment. The IVIS Lumina LT III is designed for in vivo imaging with both fluorescent and bioluminescent reporters that emit from green to near-infrared signals. The field of view allows the imaging of up to five mice or two rats. Animal handling features include a heated stage, gas anesthesia and ECG monitoring connections. In addition, Noble provides multicolor flow cytometry and Next Generation Sequencing services that can be combined with live animal imaging and immuno-oncology animal models to obtain more robust data for oncology drug development.

Noble Life Sciences is one of the leading contract research organizations providing integrated GLP and non-GLP preclinical services designed to accelerate development of drugs, vaccines and medical devices. Services include but are not limited to pharmacology, disease models, early safety assessments, toxicology, and GLP custom polyclonal antibodies.

For more information regarding our oncology drug development services, Contact us today.