Gene Modification and Immunological Analyses for the Development of Immunotherapy Utilizing T Cells Redirected with Antigen-Specific Receptors

Cancer immunotherapy has been developed and established as a new treatment modality. Recently, adoptive transfer therapy using T cells redirected with antigen-specific antitumor receptors, such as T-cell receptor (TCR) and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), has demonstrated clinical benefits even in patients with refractory malignancies. To advance this treatment modality, both generation of gene-modified T cells and evaluation of their reactivity with high quality in vitro are required. To achieve this, it is important to establish the ways (1) to generate optimal viral particle for T-cell transduction, (2) to transduce antitumor receptors into T cells and expand redirected T cells efficiently, and (3) to assess the functionality of antigen-specific gene-modified T cells precisely. Here, we summarize established protocols to generate and analyze antitumor receptor-transduced T cells. These procedures help to further assess characteristics of gene-modified T cells, resulting in promotion of translational research for cancer immunotherapy.