Watching and analyzing T cells attack cancer cells in real time

© 2021 Nanolive A new assay developed by EPFL spin-off Nanolive opens up promising avenues of research for immuno-oncology treatments. It allows scientists to directly see and quantify how T cells find, bind, stress and kill cancer cells. Immuno-oncology is a promising new field of research that involves boosting the capacity of a patient's own immune system to attack cancer cells. It has already proven to be effective in treating certain types of cancer, and scientists are now testing an array of molecules to expand the range of potential applications. These tests require a variety of instruments, each of which, perform a specific analysis. However, the measurements taken by these instruments are often limited and only provide an indirect indication of how immune cells interact with cancer cells. To enable scientists to quantify these interactions directly, Nanolive has developed a new test, called the Live T Cell Assay, that lets scientists observe T cell behavior in real time and generate quantitative analysis of numerous cell characteristics.