What is Cellectis’ role in the fight against cancer?
Cellectis' product candidates, based on allogeneic gene-edited T-cells that express Chimeric Antigen Receptors, or CARs, seek to harness the power of the immune system to target and eradicate cancers. A key to this effort is a type of white blood cell known as the T-cell, which plays an important role in identifying and killing cancer cells. Unfortunately, cancer cells often develop mechanisms to evade the immune system. CARs, which are engineered receptors that can be expressed on the surface of the T-cell, provide the T-cell with a specific targeting mechanism, thereby enhancing its ability to seek, identify, interact with and destroy tumor cells bearing a selected antigen. Cellectis is designing next-generation immunotherapies that are based on gene-edited CAR T-cells. Our gene-editing technologies allow us to create allogeneic CAR T-cells, meaning they are derived from healthy donors rather than the patients themselves.