A plan comes togetherTO DEFEAT the enemy, you must first know the enemy. In the immune system, that job is done by T-cells, which recognise the molecular signatures of threats to their owner’s well-being. This week, at the AAAS conference, researchers explained how turbocharging these cells can boost the immune system’s ability to fight cancer, and possibly other illnesses, too.
The technology they use merges gene therapy, synthetic biology and cell biology. First, a batch of T-cells is extracted from the blood. A custom-built virus is used to implant them with new genes. The modified cells are then returned to the body, where their new DNA gives them a fresh set of targets to attack.
Stanley Riddell, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Washington state, creates cells that target a molecule, called CD19, that is found on the surfaces of some cancers. A firm called Juno Therapeutics is exploring whether the technique can be used to treat cancers that affect B-cells, another part of the immune system.
Dr Riddell has meanwhile been refining the technology. He told the meeting of his attempts to...Continue reading
Source: Science and technology http://ift.tt/1ToFB3K
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