Liam Hendrikse, PhD, CRI Immuno-Informatics Fellow University Health Network (Canada) Area of Research: Leukemia, Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma Immunotherapy is the harnessing of the immune system to attack a cancer. These treatments rely on the ability of immune cells, particularly T cells, to recognize abnormal molecules produced by cancer cells. Currently, this recognition depends on T cells expressing a surface T cell receptor (TCR) made up of α and β chains (αβ TCR) or an artificial receptor called a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). Unfortunately, most cancers eventually find a way to avoid recognition by these T cell therapies allowing them to survive and continue to grow. Dr. Hendrikse’s proposal focuses on identifying a different set of T cells that express a TCR made up of γ and δ chains (γδ TCR). These γδ T cells recognize different cancer-associated molecules allowing them to kill cancer cells with resistance to existing T cell therapies. However, it is currently challenging to obtain γδ TCR sequences in a high-throughput manner, and thus Dr. Hendrikse proposes to develope a computer algorithm capable of this task. He will then use various cell culture assays to prove that T cells bearing some of the γδ TCR sequences can in fact recognize blood cancer cells. Finally, Dr. Hendrikse proposes to develop a second computer algorithm that can take data obtained from patient tumor samples with different blood cancers and predict γδ TCRs able to recognize these malignancies. Success in this proposed research will allow for the development of a novel immunotherapy that can be used to treat patients that have progressed on existing therapies. Projects and Grants Identification of tumor-reactive gd T cell receptors to treat blood cancers University Health Network | Blood Cancers | 2025 | Tak Mak, PhD, and Trevor Pugh, PhD
