A Group Of Scientists Found A System For Leukemia Cells To Destroy Each Other
It is important to note that these cells only attack and destroy other leukemic cells, but are not effective against those that generate other types of cancer
Leukemia is a type of blood cancer that begins in the bone marrow. This is a tissue located in the center of certain bones. In it, most of the blood cells are generated.
The disease begins when immature blood cells become cancerous, preventing sufficient numbers of healthy red blood cells, platelets, and white blood cells from being produced, which in turn leads to the development of a series of life-threatening symptoms that increase as the cells shrink. benign.
Cancer spreads through the bloodstream and to the lymph nodes. As it progresses, it can reach the brain, spinal cord, and other parts of the body.
Scientific advances have been able to develop various treatments to combat this pathology. However, and unfortunately, it is still one of the most difficult to treat. Often with constant relapses because many times the cells become resistant to the drugs.
However, a new study by ShanghayTech University recently gave new hope after revealing that there are many possibilities for causing malignant cells to destroy each other.
Research against leukemia cells …
Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla, California (United States) have developed a novel technique that could transform leukemia cells into immune cells to destroy cancer cells, which grow without measure, complicating the disease .
The key to making this possible would be a rather rare type of human antibody. Its action would activate the cell receptors of the marrow to make them mature and turn them into useful cells.
Antibodies are types of proteins that are produced naturally by the human body’s immune system. These work in conjunction with the white cells to fight against possible external invaders. Either to neutralize its action or achieve its destruction.
With this in mind, the researchers were trying to develop an antibody therapy to turn marrow leukemia cells into non-cancerous cells.
They hoped that the antibodies had the ability to activate immature cells. The goal was to make them healthy and useful in treating those that were already damaged.
However…
However, after years of research, they did not expect that a group of such induced antibodies could help cells to mature into very different varieties. For example the dendritic ones, keys to increase the immune response of the body.
To come up with such an important finding, the researchers incorporated several antibodies into a sample of human blood rich in dangerous leukemic cells. Thus, they discovered that they could transform them into other cell varieties, whose functions would support the immune system.
Giving them even more time to act, the cells began to mature and gradually resembled those responsible for hunting down and destroying threats in the body, including viruses, bacteria, and cancer cells.
NK cells, now called “natural killers”, were shown to have the ability to extend their action on cancer cells. They thus achieved a destruction of up to 15% in a sample of only one day duration.
And although it seems incredible, this group of cells only participates in fratricide. They target only leukemic cells and not those that cause other types of cancers in the body.
There are good expectations …
With the incredible results of this study, the researchers hope that “fractricidal therapy” (as they have called it) will serve to transform a wide variety of cancers into NK cells in order to completely cure patients.
Lead researcher Richard A. Lerner commented on this:
And he added:
In conclusion, it would be a type of therapy with very important advantages for leukemia. These antibodies could be useful with little or no additional modification.
It is believed that its application would significantly reduce the likelihood of side effects of the current treatment, at the very least, being more bearable than the dreaded chemotherapy.
