A new approach to immune therapy for cancer could be
a "game changer."
Currently, disabled viruses are used to carry new genetic material into immune cells
called T cells in order to get them to target cancer. But these disabled viruses are in short supply, resulting
in long wait times for them, the Washington Post reported.
A team of scientists say they've developed a new, faster method to reprogram
T cells, which normally target bacterial or fungal infections, into cancer
fighters.
Rather than using disabled viruses, the scientists found that shocking
T-cells with electricity relaxes the membranes that surround the cells, enabling
the insertion of new genetic material, the Post reported.
The research by James Wilson, director of the gene therapy program at the
University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine, and his colleagues was
published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
'The Human Immunology Unit' by Enzo Cerundolo:
The increasing globalisation of infectious disease is a major challenge to human health. The MRC Human Immunology Unit is a key player in international efforts to combat this threat, and in research into other diseases involving the immune system.
The immune system is crucial to human health. Our ability to identify and destroy invading pathogens involves complex networks of interacting cells and molecules. Understanding precisely how the system works at the cellular, genetic and molecular levels will help in the development of new therapies for diseases such as AIDS, avian flu, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and eczema.
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| Vincenzo,Enzo, Cerundolo |
"It's a turning point," Vincenzo Cerundolo, director, Human Immunology Unit,
Oxford University, U.K., told the Post. He was not involved in the new
research.
"It is a game-changer in the field and I'm sure that this technology has
legs," said Cerundolo, who added that the research could lead to cheaper and
faster immunotherapy.
Being able to quickly reprogram T cells to become cancer fighters is
"extraordinarily significant," Fred Ramsdell, vice president of research at the
Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in San Francisco, told the
Post. He was not involved in the study.
But the scientists who developed the new approach noted that they need to
conduct more research.
"There will have to be discussions with regulatory agencies," study co-author
Kevan Herold, an endocrinologist and immunologist at Yale University, told the
Post.
"All of us are aware of the potential pitfalls here," and there is a
"critical first question: Are these cells safe to be put back into people?"
"We will begin to see this kind of technology brought forth in human clinical
trials" in the next one to three years, Ramsdell told the Post.
Herold said it is too soon to assess how much the treatment may cost, but
noted that immunotherapies are not inexpensive.
Since 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been approving
genetically altered immune cells for small groups of patients with cancers such as
aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma or a rare form childhood leukemia, the
Post reported.
Experimental trials using immunotherapy to treat cancers such as multiple
myeloma and melanoma skin
cancer have yielded promising results.