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Redesign the cells in the laboratory and then, once “treated”, re-enter them in the same patient, to make them become inflexible and specific soldiers against tumor units. If for some forms of blood diseases this approach is defined CAR-T immunotherapy, has already proven its value and is carried out in very selected cases, in the future it could become a reality for the breast cancer. This is suggested by a research published in Nature Communications, which at the moment has shown the potential of the approach in experimental animals.
Change the genes to face the enemy
There strategy shown in the study is certainly very specific and goes beyond the current perspectives offered by treatment with CAR-T. In practice, a group of scientists has focused their attention on a specific gene that, in some way, goes to act on immune response of the body to the tumor.
This particular research shows that thanks to the “cut and sew” technique that can be used in genetics, it was recently worth the Two women Nobel Prize, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna, you can go to remove the gene in question and therefore even the treatment with lymphocytes “trained” by specialists as needed can be more effective.
To date we are seeing the results of the approach in animals that have developed tumors related to human cells, but in the future it is hoped that we will be able to seek clinical evidence of this therapy, which it could really become revolutionary for women who deal with this neoplasm. Thanks to the “molecular scissors” identified by the two researchers, in fact, knowing the “geographical map” of the genes, it becomes possible to do a real “cut and sew”, or genetic editing.
The technique allows you to erase, replace and literally rewrite entire sequences of the genetic code using the protein naturally present in a bacterium (called Cas9 endonuclease), which is guided to the exact point of the DNA to be ‘cut’ thanks to an Rna molecule. In the future, scientists will therefore be able to act on the stretch of DNA on which attention is focused, correcting it and therefore completely modifying the alteration at its origin, even in the human being.
CAR-T and TIL, how they work
The treatment with CAR-T, in particular, it is an immunotherapy that uses particular white blood cells, the T lymphocytes, engineered to activate the immune system against cancer cells, as happens for example with infections.
The patient’s T lymphocytes are harvested and subsequently genetically modified in the laboratory to make them capable of recognize cancer cells: so when they are returned to the patient they enter the bloodstream and are able to recognize cancer cells and eliminate them through the activation of the immune response.
Therapy, though today it is not applicable to all patients and is approved for some forms of blood cancer, it has the great advantage of being able to treat even those who have failed conventional treatments of chemo and radiotherapy. When we talk about TIL instead, the patient’s T cells (ie specific T lymphocytes that act against the disease) can be taken from the peripheral blood or even from the tumor, and then grown in large quantities in the laboratory and returned to the patient after having “reinvigorated them. “. The abbreviation stands for “Therapy, Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocyte”. It is a different situation from the CAR-T which instead involve the engineering of the cells themselves to put them in the condition of recognize the target to be eliminated. In any case, the two strategies give hope for the future. Adoptive immunotherapy is also nearing the goal for tumors of solid organs, such as that of the breast.
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