Breakthrough may lead to eradication of cancer.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: Researchers from Imperial College London have discovered a protein that can increase immunity of the body to fight viruses and cancer cells, thus taking cancer treatment to a new direction.
According to the Website of Imperial College, the researchers who conducted experiments on mice and human cells found that the newly discovered protein can increase the multiplication of Cytotoxic T cells in the body, which can effectively kill viruses and cancer cells. The researchers said that the new development was unexpected because the protein had no known function and was different from other proteins.
The researchers are hoping to develop a new gene therapy by including the protein cell that can increase the multiplying of cancer fighting cells in the body. If all goes according to the plans, scientists will be able to conduct the first human trial in three years’ time.
(Breakthroughs in Cancer Study: August 2008 – A new ‘designer drug’ that cuts out an enzyme which is essential in the production of testosterone, passed its clinical trials, increasing life expectancy in men with prostate cancer.)
The study was a joined effort involving researchers from Queen Mary University of London, ETH Zurich and Harvard Medical School. The report about the breakthrough discovery in the study of cancer treatment was published in the journal Science.
Cytotoxic T Cells that effectively fight cancer and other viruses are an essential component of immune system but during the progressive stage of cancer and other virus inflicted diseases, this cell fails to multiply in the quantity needed to fight the disease.
(Breakthroughs in Cancer Study: July 2009 – Association for Cancer Research concluded that ‘there is a strong link between insulin resistance and the risk of developing postmenopausal breast cancer.’)
While conducting study on genetically mutated mice, the researchers found that one particular strain of mice was able to produce 10 times as many cytotoxic T cells when they were infected with virus. These mice were able to fight the virus more effectively than other strains of and were more resistant to cancer.
Interestingly, the scientists also discovered that these mice were able to produce more T cells and memory cells enabling them to identify infections and start counter attack in rapid pace.
The mice which resisted viruses and cancer cells produced an unknown protein, which scientists now call Lymphocyte Expansion Molecule or LEM. The researchers concluded that this new protein is the reason behind the multiplying of T cells, both in mice and humans.
(Breakthroughs in Cancer Study: September 2012 – European Journal of Nutrition showed that people taking antioxidant supplements had a 48 percent reduction in the risk of cancer mortality.)
The scientists are now expanding their research as they plan to develop a gene therapy whereby they can deliver nucleic acid polymers into a patient’s cells to boost the production of LEM to improve immunity.
Imperial Innovations, the technology commercialization company of the College have filed two patents; one called ImmunarT has been formed with the aim of commercializing the technology.
The research was funded by the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the British Heart Foundation.
(Breakthroughs in Cancer Study: March 2015- Queen’s University cancer researcher Madhuri Koti has discovered a breakthrough biomarker that will help lead to better predictions of the success of chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients.)
Professor Philip Ashton-Rickardt, the lead researcher of the study from the Section of Immunobiology in the Department of Medicine at Imperial, said: “Cancer cells have ways to suppress T cell activity, helping them to escape the immune system. Genetically engineering T cells to augment their ability to fight cancer has been a goal for some time and techniques for modifying them already exist. By introducing an active version of the LEM gene into the T cells of cancer patients, we hope we can provide a robust treatment for patients.
“Next we will test the therapy in mice, make sure it is safe and see if it can be combined with other therapies. If all goes well, we hope to be ready to carry out human trials in about three years.”
Dr Claudio Mauro, who led the research from the Centre for Biochemical Pharmacology, based within Queen Mary University of London’s William Harvey Research Institute, said: “This study has identified the novel protein LEM and unlocked an unexpected way of enhancing the ability of our immune system to fight viruses or cancers. This is based on the ability of the protein LEM to regulate specific energy circuits, and particularly mitochondrial respiration, in a subset of white blood cells known as cytotoxic T cells. This discovery has immediate consequences for the delivery of innovative therapeutic approaches to cancer. Its ramifications, however, are far greater as they can help explaining the biological mechanisms of widespread human diseases involving altered immune and inflammatory responses. These include chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, such as atherosclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.”
Dr Mike Turner, Head of Infection and Immunobiology at The Wellcome Trust, said: “The discovery of a protein that could boost the immune response to not only cancer, but also to viruses, is a fascinating one. Further investigation in animal models is needed before human trials can commence, but there is potential for a new type of treatment that capitalises on the immune system’s innate ability to detect and kill abnormal cells.”
1 Comment
Scientists,
Proteins, Scientific Conspiracy Theories and Father of Oncology. Scientists
have uncovered a protein that not only boosts immunity to cancer but also has
the ability to fight viruses, an unexpected discovery because the protein
previously had no known function and was unlike any other protein. Not all
scientific conspiracy theories are wrong, the Father of Oncology explains.
Conspiracy theories are immensely popular today. Conspiracy theories are easy
to propagate and difficult to refute. Cancer is the name given to a collection
of related diseases; cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body, which
is made up of trillions of cells, the U.S. National Cancer Institute says.
Cancer is a disease of iron-overloaded cells. Proteins are constructed from a
set of 20 amino acids and have distinct three-dimensional shapes. At the
cellular level, cancer occurs when cellular iron overload chaotically affects
cellular molecules (proteins are large cellular molecules) and organelles, the
Father of Oncology says. Primary tumors always develop at body sites of
excessive iron deposits. Personalized clinical iron-deficiency methods can
neutralize micrometastases. Surgery (ceramic blades) and direct intratumoral
injections of iron-deficiency agents (ceramic needles) can eliminate tumors and
metastases. Cancer costs the world economy nearly US$3 trillion every year.
That is why scientific iron/cancer information-1905-2015 is largely ignored. One
day, cancer will be chained to the iron chains, Vanga said. HIV is a priority
for all health authorities in all countries over the world as one of the main
dangers for individual’s health. HIV/AIDS affects every country in the world
and in many infection rates are increasing rapidly. HIV drugs cost a lot of
money. Today, an estimated 42 million people live with HIV/AIDS; the Father of
Oncology lives without HIV/AIDS. Iron is essential for all pathogens. Viruses
need iron for survival, growth and multiplication. Many macromolecules contain
iron. When a virus particle is removed from its host it behaves like other
macromolecules, such as hemoglobin. Viruses often express proteins that modify
host-cell processes so as to maximize viral replication. A slow virus is a
virus, etiologically associated with a disease, having a long incubation period
of months to years. Iron-deficiency methods can affect the growth and
multiplication of slow viruses. Personalized clinical iron-deficiency methods
can neutralize HIV. Understanding how iron metabolism and viral infection
interact might suggest new iron-deficiency methods to control HIV. Scientists
can refute scientific conspiracy theories.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/opinions/184574 ; https://plus.google.com/107119198688120551734/posts/QoZjZiTVAbD ; https://www.facebook.com/TheWarOnCancerFoundation/posts/658257930905936 ; http://my.mail.ru/bk/vadim.shapoval/multipost/281A0000F1AF0003.html ; http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2015/04/17/scientists-discover-new-immunity-boosting-protein-that-kills-cancer-cells/ ; Vadim Shapoval