Stem cell engineering breakthrough yields lab-grown helper T cells for living drugs.

UBC researchers report a reliable laboratory method to produce human helper T cells from stem cells by tuning the Notch developmental signal, and the lab-grown cells showed mature markers and diverse immune receptors.

For the first time, researchers at the University of British Columbia demonstrated a reliable method to produce human helper T cells from stem cells in controlled laboratory conditions. The team reported the findings in Cell Stem Cell and identified the developmental signal Notch as a time-sensitive control point. By adjusting when and how much the Notch signal is reduced, they directed stem cells to become either helper or killer T cells. The work is described as applicable to real-world biomanufacturing and aims to support off-the-shelf immune cell therapies. Key findings: - The study identified a time-sensitive role for the Notch developmental signal: it is required early but must be reduced at specific times to allow helper T cells to form. - Researchers were able to steer stem cells toward either helper or killer T cell fates by precisely tuning that signal. - Lab-grown helper T cells showed markers of healthy mature cells, carried a diverse range of immune receptors, and could specialize into subtypes with distinct roles. - The method was developed in controlled conditions that the authors describe as directly applicable to scalable biomanufacturing. - The team reports that producing both helper and killer T cells from stem cells could support off-the-shelf cell therapies for conditions including cancer, infectious disease, and autoimmune disorders. Summary: The study removes a long-standing barrier to generating helper T cells from stem cells by defining how to time and reduce the Notch signal, and it demonstrates that the resulting cells resemble functional human helper T cells. The researchers say this capability could improve the scalability and affordability of stem cell–grown immune therapies and lays a foundation for testing helper T cells in cancer elimination and for developing helper T cell–derived regulatory cells for clinical applications. A specific timeline for translating these findings into clinical use was not provided in the article.