avidity

The researchers further refined their TIL selection process by applying a secondary algorithmic filter to screen for only those tumor-reactive T-cells with "high avidity" -- that is, those that bind strongly to tumor antigens.

The researchers demonstrated that T cells flagged by TRTpred and the secondary algorithm as both tumor-reactive and having high avidity were more often found embedded within tumors rather than in the adjacent supportive tissue, known as stroma.

"So, we pick within each cluster one TCR to amplify, so that we maximize the chances of distinct antigen targets," said Vincent Zoete, a computational scientist at Ludwig Lausanne who developed the TCR avidity and the TCR clustering algorithms.

To validate their approach, Harari's team cultivated human tumors in mice, extracted TCRs from their TILs and used the MixTRTpred system to identify T cells that were tumor-reactive, had high avidity and targeted multiple tumor antigens.

Roemer didn’t dispute that the gun control movement is growing but said that the NRA’s power also stems from the avidity of its supporters.