ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. announced that it has achieved in its research-stage Stem-to-T-Cell immuno-oncology program. The milestone represents an important step toward stimulating the patient's immune system to produce an unlimited supply of killer T cells that specifically target and destroy tumor cells with minimal side effects. This approach could be effective in treating many types of cancers. The research team at ImmunoCellular successfully packaged a T cell receptor (TCR) DNA sequence into a lentiviral vector, which was then used to transfect human hematopoietic stem cells. The Company has been able to verify successful transfer of genetic material into the stem cells, and plans to continue to work toward optimizing the transfection process. The Company believes that this completed phase of the Stem-to-T-Cell development is an important component of the proof-of-concept work for this technology, and represents a critical step in advancing toward preclinical testing. Based on the technology in-licensed from The California Institute of Technology in 2014 ImmunoCellular's Stem-to-T-Cell program is designed to harness the power of the immune system in highly directed and specific ways to engineer highly antigen-specific tumor killing. At the core of the Stem-to-T-Cell technology is harvesting stem cells from cancer patients and then cloning into them T cell receptors that are specific for cancer cells. These engineered stem cells can then be reintroduced into the patient and are pre-programed to produce daughter cells that are antigen specific killer T cells that are capable of identifying, binding to, and killing cancer cells. Because stem cells are immortal, these reengineered stem cells could provide a natural and perpetual source of T cells that can target and destroy cancer cells in the patient. The Stem-to-T-Cell platform has the potential to address many types of cancer, including both solid and hematological tumors and has the potential to result in a potentially curative therapy for many different types of cancers. The stem cell platform represents a novel and more direct approach to generating killer T cells by using the patient's stem cells as starting material.  Thus, company's Stem-to-T-Cell technology shares some similarities with other immuno-oncology technologies, such as CAR-T, and could potentially be used in combination approaches. Unlike CAR-T therapies which deliver a large bolus of active T cells into the patient's circulation and have been associated with toxicity in some patients, ImmunoCellular's approach enables a more gradual and measured release of killer T cells and has the potential for lower toxicity while also yielding a more sustained response.