Individually customised therapies for every patient – this is the vision of the future which numerous companies, research institutions, and clusters focusing on precision medicine in Saxony are working along the entire value creation chain. They are primarily active in oncology and have gained national and international acclaim and renown both in highly specialised cancer diagnostics and innovative treatment methods.

CAR-T therapies represent a new successful strategy for the treatment of hematological malignancies; however, recent studies have revealed some limitations, including the occurrence of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), neurotoxicity, and cytokine release syndromes (CRS). This has prompted researchers to look for alternative, safer cells, such as natural killer (NK) cells ¹. NK cells are lymphocytes that kill tumor cells and virus-infected cells non-specifically, without prior sensitization. CAR-NK therapy involves the modification of NK cells with mature chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology to exploit their unique target cell recognition mechanism and broad tumor-killing ability. Figure 1 illustrates the CAR-NK therapeutic strategy ¹. Compared with CAR-T therapy, CAR-NK therapy has numerous advantages, such as lower GVHD and significantly reduced CRS toxicity and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome toxicity, which enhance overall safety ^{2, 3}. In addition, NK cells have multiple tumor recognition sites, thus potentially reducing antigenic escape failure ⁴.

Life sciences is a priority sector for global economies. And Lithuania is emerging as an advanced innovation hub in Central and Eastern Europe. In the country’s well-established research and development scene, researchers and entrepreneurs are actively commercializing science to shape the future of healthcare and beyond.
The sector has grown elevenfold in the last ten years, making it one of the nation’s most valuable. Lithuania has top-level universities, cranking out 5-7 thousand STEM professionals early. And it is teeming with top labs and incubator spaces for biotech startups.

Six years after the first approved cell and gene therapy, the field is living a renaissance. 5 additional FDA-approved therapies were added in 2022 and could be doubled in 2023, setting a new pace to cell & gene therapies. The BioRN Annual Conference on September 29^th in Heidelberg will highlight next-generation approaches in the field.

Exosomes are extracellular vesicles ranging from 30 to 150 nm in diameter that are released from various types of cells, including tumor cells. They can induce apoptosis, modulate the immune system, and function as biomarkers for diagnosis. In addition, as an important component of cell-to-cell communication, exosomes can regulate the tumor microenvironment and are involved in the development, progression, and metastasis processes of numerous cancers^1,2.