The Unmet Need:
T Cell Dysfunction Limits TCE Depth and Durability
T cell engagers (TCEs) are powerful antibodies that work by redirecting T cells to kill antigen-positive cancer cells. However, their efficacy depends entirely on the presence of functional T cells in the patient. Many patients don’t have healthy T cells due to genetics, prior treatments, or immune exhaustion, making TCEs ineffective when the immune system is too weak to respond.
Ideal Effect:
TCE-mediated T cell killing of cancer cells.
(Tumor eradication)
Clinical Reality:
TCE failure due to poor T cell health.
(Tumor persistence)
Therapeutic Paradox: No TCR/CD3 = no TCE activity
Disruption of the T cell receptor (TCR) abolishes anti-cancer activity. If left intact, its presence will induce a life-threatening graft-versus-host disease (GvHD).
Adding healthy donor T cells sounds like an obvious solution—but it’s not that simple. To avoid the risk of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), their native T cell receptor (TCR) must be removed. But this also eliminates CD3, the key site needed for TCEs to work. The result: safe, but useless T cells.
The True Solution: TPRO Cells
TPRO cells overcome this therapeutic paradox. Through the proprietary TCR engineering, TPRO cells retain full expression of the TCR and surface presence of the CD3 complex. This enables full compatibility with all T cell engagers – while eliminating GvHD.
The result is a universal, off-the-shelf T cell that’s safe for patients and fully compatible with TCEs—unlocking the full potential of approved therapies, hundreds in development, and many more yet to be imagined.
Key Publication
Featured on cover!
Engineered allogeneic T cells decoupling T-cell-receptor and CD3 signalling enhance the antitumour activity of bispecific antibodies
Encelta’s foundational research was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering and featured on the cover of Volume 8, Issue 12. This cover recognition reflects both the scientific rigor and therapeutic relevance of the work, placing Encelta’s innovation at the forefront of synthetic immunology.
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Our universal TPRO cells are engineered with one goal in mind: to enhance the therapeutic activity of T cell engagers (TCEs).
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