<h2>Synthetic T-Cells</h2>
<p>In the continuous search for potentially cancer-curing treatments, researchers have turned to engineering cells. They&#8217;ve found that modifying immune cells so that they recognize cancer cells, a technique called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, can be effective. One such treatment has already been <a href="https://futurism.com/the-u-s-fda-just-approved-a-treatment-that-reprograms-cells-to-fight-cancer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">given the green light by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration</a>.</p>
<p>Reprogramming immune cells for therapeutic purposes is appealing because this mechanism could potentially work with whatever type of cancer. However, this technique has one slight problem — modifying immune cells can lead to <a href="https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/48973/title/Making-CAR-T-Cell-Therapy-Safer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a number of complications</a>, which range from a simple fever to even death as a result of the immune system overreacting.</p>
<p>A trio of researchers may have found a way around this, according to a recently published study in the journal <i><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nchembio.2498" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nature Chemical Biology</a></i>. Instead of editing immune cells, they opted for modifying nonimmune cells and giving them the same cancer-killing abilities that CAR T-cell therapy does.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OadAW99s4Ik?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>These synthetic T-cells — one is a common cell line from a human embryonic kidney cell (HEK-293T cells), and the other is from human mesenchymal stem cells — had cancer-detecting sensors built into them. Upon contact with a cancer cell, a series of reactions are triggered, leading to an eventual release of a drug-activating enzyme. The latter is transported into nearby cells where it is converted into its active form which kills the cancer cells.</p>
<p>“I liken this to an explosion, which could eventually kill the synthetic T cell, along with a couple of other cells around, mostly cancer cells,” one of the researchers, Martin Fussenegger from ETH Zurich, <a href="https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/50933/title/Researchers-Build-a-Cancer-Immunotherapy-Without-Immune-Cells/&amp;utm_content=63130791&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=facebook/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told </a><i><a href="https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/50933/title/Researchers-Build-a-Cancer-Immunotherapy-Without-Immune-Cells/&amp;utm_content=63130791&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=facebook/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Scientist</a></i>. “So whenever the synthetic [T-cell] has done its job, it triggers a targeted killing of the cell it recognizes, plus an explosion taking out all the other cells in the immediate surroundings. This [is] a very targeted but localized effect.”</p>
<h2>Towards a Generalized Treatment</h2>
<p>The synthetic T-cells developed by Fussenegger together with Leo Scheller, who&#8217;s also from ETH, and Ryosuke Kojima from the University of Tokyo, is a feat in engineering cells. Aside from this, the technique could also lead to the a more generalized treatment for cancer. As Fussenegger said in an ETH press release, “This technology provides us with an enormous degree of [generalization] that cannot be achieved with the genuine T-cells used in current cancer therapies.”</p>
<p>As promising as this is, however, the team has not yet completely developed the treatment for human application, as their tests were only done in cell cultures targeting breast cancer cells. “At present our new system is still a long way from a therapeutic application,” Fussenegger added in the press statement. “But I believe we have opened up a new front in the battle against cancer.” Explaining the treatment&#8217;s potential to <i>The Scientist</i>, Fussenegger said that they &#8220;chose breast cancer here, but we could go for another cancer or other cells we need to kill.”</p>
<p>“In terms of engineering and programming human cell behavior, this is at the cutting edge. It expands our toolkit to rewire cells,” University of Wisconsin–Madison biomedical engineer Krishanu Saha commented to <em>The Scientist</em>. “All of the work in this study is in vitro in the lab, but whether that works as well, or perhaps better, inside animals needs further study.&#8221;</p>


This alternative treatment has a lot of promise.

Scientists engineer nonimmune cells that kill cancer upon contact

multi pipette    research of cancer stem cells

Health & Medicine

Researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Tokyo have come up with a method of engineering nonimmune cells for a cancer therapy.

Scientists Engineer Nonimmune Cells That Kill Cancer Upon Contact

These modified cells work like "warheads."

<h2>A Historic Action</h2>
<p>In a decision that will forever change cancer research and treatment, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm574058.htm" target="_blank">the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved </a>a revolutionary cancer therapy on Wednesday, making it the first ever cell-based gene therapy now publicly available in the United States. The decision — which the agency calls &#8220;a historic action&#8221; — came more than a month after <a href="https://futurism.com/an-fda-panel-just-approved-a-treatment-that-genetically-alters-your-own-cells/" target="_blank">an FDA panel recommended the treatment</a>.</p>
<p>The novel treatment is called CAR-T therapy, previously referred to as CTL019. It works by using a patient&#8217;s own T cells (a type of immune cell) to fight cancer. The cells are extracted from patients and modified to carry a new gene, which will code for a specific protein known as chimeric antigen receptor or CAR (thus the name CAR-T therapy). The modified T cells are then placed back into the patient&#8217;s body, where it will begin attacking cancer cells.</p>
<p>Pharmaceutical giant Novartis, who has been working on the treatment, has named it Kymriah. The FDA has approved it for use against a particularly potent kind of blood cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The approval covers use of Kymriah to treat children and young adults up to 25 years old who may not be responding to the usual treatment, or who have relapsed. In clinical trials, the gene therapy proved effective, producing an overall remission rate of 83 percent in the 63 pediatric and young adult patients within just three months. Novartis is reportedly charging $475,000 for a one-time treatment, although they are promising not to charge patients who won&#8217;t respond within a month.</p>
<figure id="attachment_98700" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-infographicListing wp-image-98700" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/08/scisource_sf5256_custom-e8fc9ee74c7461711033f02cbd78607511667f7d-s800-c85-600x434.jpg" alt="gene therapy cancer kymriah car-t cell therapy" width="600" height="434" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image credit: Steve Gschmeissner/Science Source</figcaption></figure>
<h2>A New Era</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/types/leukemia" target="_blank">National Cancer Institute</a>, there are about 3,100 new cases of ALL each year in the U.S. involving patients aged 20 and younger. “Kymriah is a first-of-its-kind treatment approach that fills an important unmet need for children and young adults with this serious disease,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), <a href="“Kymriah is a first-of-its-kind treatment approach that fills an important unmet need for children and young adults with this serious disease,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), said in the announcement. “Not only does Kymriah provide these patients with a new treatment option where very limited options existed, but a treatment option that has shown promising remission and survival rates in clinical trials.”" target="_blank">said a statement</a>. “Not only does Kymriah provide these patients with a new treatment option where very limited options existed, but a treatment option that has shown promising remission and survival rates in clinical trials.”</p>
<p>Having this alternative treatment is definitely encouraging for patients — especially since Kymriah may prove to be more effective than conventional treatment. For the FDA, it&#8217;s definitely about much more than just a better treatment: approving Kymriah is effectively a nod at <a href="https://futurism.com/gene-therapy-reportedly-used-reverse-biological-aging/" target="_blank">the benefits of gene therapy</a>.</p>
<p>“We’re entering a new frontier in medical innovation with the ability to reprogram a patient’s own cells to attack a deadly cancer,” FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said. “New technologies such as gene and cell therapies hold out the potential to transform medicine and create an inflection point in our ability to treat and even cure many intractable illnesses. At the FDA, we’re committed to helping expedite the development and review of groundbreaking treatments that have the potential to be life-saving.”</p>
<p>Kymriah will be made available gradually, beginning in only 32 hospitals and clinics where doctors and health workers have been trained in administering the treatment. The FDA has also cautioned against a possible overreaction by the immune system, called cytokine-release syndrome, as the treatment&#8217;s main potential risk.</p>


Approving Kymriah is effectively a nod by the FDA at the benefits of gene therapy.

A revolutionary method of treating a special kind of leukemia just got approved by the U.S. FDA.

/Car T Cell Therapy

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Scientists Engineer Nonimmune Cells That Kill Cancer Upon Contact

Health & Medicine

The U.S. FDA Just Approved a Treatment That Reprograms Cells to Fight Cancer

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