Tollip-knockout engineered neutrophils for cancer cell therapy
This technology involves engineering neutrophils — a type of white blood cell — by removing or reducing expression of a gene called Tollip. The resulting modified neutrophils behave differently than normal ones, and the inventors believe these altered cells can be administered to patients as a therapeutic. The underlying hypothesis is that Tollip-deficient neutrophils have enhanced or redirected immune activity that could be clinically useful, most likely in cancer. This is a cell therapy approach in the same broad space as CAR-T, but using neutrophils rather than T cells.
What you could build
A cell therapy product — engineered patient-derived or donor neutrophils with Tollip knocked out — intended for oncology applications; the buyer would be a cell therapy company or pharma firm building a pipeline beyond CAR-T, or an academic medical center running oncology trials.
Who in Virginia should care
Virginia-based biotech companies, NIH-adjacent research spinouts in Northern Virginia/Maryland corridor, or academic medical centers like UVA Health or Inova with oncology programs could be interested partners or licensees.
Readiness: Concept
Concept — described but not yet demonstrated. Lab validated — supported by experimental results in the patent. Prototype likely — the text describes a built, working embodiment.
Readiness is inferred from the patent text, not from a lab visit.
The record
- Inventors
- Liwu LI, Yao ZHANG, Christina LEE
- Filed
- Patent pending — filed June 24, 2021
- Status
- Application
- Publication number
- US20220096543A1
Ready to talk?
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties handles licensing for this technology. Email us for an introduction prosim@harbor.capital.
Prosim summaries are generated from public patent text and are not legal advice.