Progenitor Life Sciences Announces Development Of Proprietary VanGogh Self-Excising Cassette And Rodin Gene Switching Platforms For "Off-The-Shelf" Cellular Immunotherapy Development
SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Progenitor Life Sciences, developer of technologies for ‘off-the-shelf’ cellular immunotherapies, announces proprietary VanGogh™ footprint-free gene editing and Rodin™ gene switching technology for precision genomic engineering and efficient production and scaling of cellular therapies.
VanGogh™ employs proprietary self-extracting technology to remove unwanted DNA introduced into the cellular genome, such as DNA encoding antibiotic resistance or fluorescent proteins used in genetic engineering. Unlike competing technologies, VanGogh™ exhibits >90% efficiency, eliminates unexcised cells, and does not require additional transfection or transduction of cells with a recombinase or transposase. Rodin™ extends VanGogh™ linking induced excision of unwanted DNA to the simultaneous activation and/or inactivation of up to four different genes. Rodin™ technology can be used to produce cells in which gene expression and cell function can be switched on/off temporally on-demand both in vitro and in vivo. These technologies can be combined with Progenitor’s Receiver Cell technology for rapid parallel development of multiple lines of footprint-free, genetically identical cells expressing different genes of interest from safe harbor sites. These technologies are expected to increase efficiency and scalability of industrial workflows for producing engineered cell therapies.
CSO Tim Graham states, “Our technologies enable more efficient and reliable workflows, and produce safer cells. Using these technologies provides partners with unprecedented cell design capabilities, including the ability to switch from expressing one CAR to another in vivo, excisable selection cassettes, and multiple layers of control over differentiation and proliferation. Progenitor’s technologies will be pivotal in implementing next-generation ‘off-the-shelf’ cellular immunotherapies. Current allogeneic CAR-T therapies focus on delivering a single CAR molecule into a mix of primary cells. In contrast, future ‘off-the-shelf’ therapies will employ large-scale production of renewable cells, and will require optimization of cells with a more comprehensive approach taken to screening CAR molecules, alone or in combination with other factors like co-activators, cytokines, and suicide genes. The current approach of ‘one cell line and one receptor at a time’ won’t cut it in this new arena. Progenitor’s technologies provide parallel development that accelerates production/testing of ‘off-the-shelf’ cellular therapies, and is scalable for industrial production of the final products.”
Progenitor Life Sciences develops platform solutions for cellular immunotherapy and immune oncology. Our unique proprietary solutions include patented iPSC sourcing and immune-compatibility technology, enabling creation of allogeneic ‘off-the-shelf’ CAR immune cell constructs from a variety of cell sources. Progenitor partners with pharma/biotech companies providing access to its unique suite of technologies.