Label-free assessment of immunotherapies for liquid tumors

Developing therapies for liquid tumors like leukemia is complex, as effector cells are particularly sensitive to phototoxicity from fluorescent imaging methods, and nonadherent target cells are complex to segment and classify automatically from images.

From activation to target engagement and killing, Nanolive’s revolutionary technology enables the identification of the most effective therapeutic candidates for liquid tumors using live, label-free and advanced automated analysis of effector cell activity and function.

Understand T cell activation, engagement, and killing dynamics with one experiment

Using AI-powered analysis, Nanolive’s platform automates the assessment of several markers of T cell potency and activity from a single label-free imaging experiment:

     – Detect death rate in effector and target cell populations
     – Rank T cell therapies based on killing efficacy
     – Detect effector cell exhaustion and activation status
     – Identify mechanisms for T cell efficacy improvement
     – Quantify effector-tumor cell interactions over time

To learn more about our immuno-oncology solution, visit our dedicated product page or download a flyer for the LIVE T Cell Assay.

In this experiment, K562 lymphoblast cells (larger cells) were co-cultured with gamma-delta T cells (smaller cells) and imaged with Nanolive’s label-free technology (top left). Digital segmentation and coloring separated the two populations to quantify Cell-cell interactions (top right), T cell activation status (bottom right), and Tumor cell viability status (bottom left).

Explore the Nanolive workflow

Discover Nanolive’s cell therapy screening workflow for non-adherent and adherent target cells, as we showcase the power of a single assay for assessing efficacy, mechanism, and failure modes of immune cell therapies. Using real data, we show how to reduce time, costs and errors, by simplifying fragmented assays into a single process to accelerate screening and selection of therapies.

This session presents insights from nonadherent AML and CML models with gamma-delta T cells, and human CAR T cells, using the only high-resolution and automated system for quantifying the dynamic effector cell response in co-culture.

Join our Field Application Specialist Matthias as he demonstrates how easy it is to transform label-free images directly into valuable insights. 

Watch the webinar on demand here.

This online event is ideal for biopharma professionals in immuno-oncology who are looking to:

     – Increase reproducibility with scalable, automated analysis
     – Accelerate screening and selection of therapies with high-content data
     – Reduce decision fatigue at the planning level
     – Reduce data silos and complex integration and analysis
     – Support more informed, unbiased decision-making with label-free data

Label-free CAR T assessment

Nanolive’s unique high content data combined with its automated digital assay distinguishes between CAR-T and tumor cell responses in co-culture with automated, AI-powered analysis of quantitative label-free images:

• Quantify T cell activation, early AICD (activation-induced cell death) and target cell behavior, all with a single click
• Perform rapid, reproducible assessment of CAR-T clone specificity and potency
• Prioritize the most effective candidates and de-risk early development with functional evidence

For a printable poster overview of label-free analysis of T cell activity and target cell killing, click here.

Key immuno-oncology publications featuring Nanolive technology

• CAR-Macrophage engineering: Zhang, Y. et al. “Biomimetic SIRPα–CAR Engineering for In Situ Macrophage Reprogramming and Potent Solid Tumor Immunotherapy”. Advanced Functional Materials (2026). https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202527483

• T Cell screening: Le Floch, A. et al. “Targeting BTN2A1 Enhances Vγ9Vδ2 T-Cell Effector Functions and Triggers Tumor Cell Pyroptosis”. Cancer Immunology Research (2024). https://doi.org/10.1158/2326-6066.cir-23-0868

• CAR-T assessment: O’Connor, R. et al. “The Glucose Transporter 5 Enhances CAR-T Cell Metabolic Function and Anti-tumour Durability” Research Square (2024). https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4342820/v1

• T cell avidity: “Identification of shared tumor epitopes from endogenous retroviruses inducing high-avidity cytotoxic T cells for cancer immunotherapy” Science Advances (2022). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abj3671

You can find over 400 publications featuring Nanolive imaging here.

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