Studying immune cell engagers in patient samples
Most immune engager assays remove the biology that actually determines whether the drug works.
Immune cell engagers (ICEs) such as T cell engagers (TCEs) and NK-cell engagers depend on complex interactions between immune cells, tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment.
However, many experimental assays simplify this biology by using tumor cell lines and isolated immune cells, often combined with PBMCs from healthy donors.
These systems can lead to:
- overestimation of cytotoxic activity
- limited prediction of immune toxicity
- poor understanding of patient-to-patient variability
For translational scientists, this makes it difficult to anticipate how immune engagers will behave in patients.
A Different Approach: Patient Sample Assays
At Vivia Biotech, immune engager activity is evaluated using ex vivo assays performed directly in patient samples.
These assays preserve the native cellular environment, allowing tumor cells, immune effector cells and microenvironmental components to interact under more physiologically relevant conditions.
Maintaining this context helps capture biological mechanisms that are often lost in simplified experimental systems.
Functional Readouts Relevant for Translational Research
Using multiparametric flow cytometry, patient-derived assays allow researchers to evaluate key biological responses, including:
- tumor cell depletion
- activation and proliferation of T cells or NK cells
- cytokine release associated with immune activation
- target expression variability across patient samples
- selective killing versus effects on healthy cells
These datasets provide a functional view of immune engager pharmacology in a biologically relevant system.
Why This Matters for Immune Engager Development
Studying immune engagers directly in patient-derived samples allows researchers to better capture microenvironmental effects, immune cell heterogeneity, and interpatient variability.
By preserving the native biological context, these assays can generate insights that support candidate selection, safety evaluation, and translational decision-making during immune engager development.