Alan Trounson guest edits a special immunology issue of the journal Cells

 By Leigh Dayton 9 Nov 2020

As well as steering the Melbourne-based biotech company through the challenges of COVID-19, CEO Alan Trounson has taken up the role of guest editor for the prestigious journal Cells.

It’s a perfect match. The journal’s upcoming special issue will focus on an area pioneered by Cartherics: ‘off-the-shelf’ cancer therapies.

Technically known as ‘allogeneic’ cell therapies, such treatments are a new class of cancer treatments beyond surgery, chemotherapy, biologicals and radiation. Very simply, they supercharge a patient’s own immune system, helping it eliminate cancer.

Cartherics’ cost-effective allogenic ovarian cancer therapy, derived from special donor umbilical cord blood samples, is in the final stages of preclinical development.

It should be an interesting Special Issue focused on “off the shelf” CAR-T cells, NK cells, NKT cells and macrophages. This is the front line of immune therapies for cancer or infection and likely to be of special interest to everyone working to optimise these therapeutics.

Trounson adds: “I would like to gather together a collection of stimulating contributions that will be landmark and thought provoking for allogeneic cell therapy.”

Specifically, Trounson seeks to present work on specific types of immune cells: Chimeric antigen receptor thymus cells (CAR-T), natural killer cells (NK) and natural killer thymus cells (NK-T). The work also includes immune cells derived from donor stem cells that have an allogeneic focus.

“The applications may be in cancer or infectious disease, such as Covid-19, HIV or any other appropriate condition,” notes Trounson who has already contacted potential contributors.

Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access journal covering cell biology, molecular biology, and biophysics. It is a highly-regarded monthly publication. The special issue will be published 1 September 2020.