HOPE OF TREATING CANCER

SCIENTISTS CREATE TUMOUR-KILLING CELLS WHICH CAN BE DIRECTLY INJECTED INTO PATIENTS

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         In a breakthrough, scientists have for the first time created cancer-killing cells which can be directly injected into patients. Researchers in Japan have created cancer-specific killer T-cell, the cells naturally occur in small numbers, but it is hoped injecting huge quantities back into a patient could turbo-charge the immune system.

         Researchers at the RIKEN Research Centre for Allergy and Immunology revealed they have succeeded for the first time in creating cancer-specific, immune system cells called killer T lymphocytes.

        To create these, the team first had to reprogramme T lymphocytes specialized in killing a certain type of cell called induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS cells). These iPS cells then generated fully active, cancer-specific T lymphocytes. These lymphocytes regenerated from iPS cells could potentially serve as cancer therapy in the future, researchers believe.

        Previous research has shown that killer T lymphocytes produced in the lab using conventional methods are inefficient in killing cancer cells mainly because they have a very short life-span, which limits their use as treatment for cancer.

        To overcome the problems, Japanese researchers, led by Hiroshi Kawamoto reprogrammed mature human killer T lymphocytes into iPS cells and investigated how these cells differentiate. The team induced killer T lymphocytes specific for a certain type of skin cancer to reprogram into iPs cells by exposing the lymphocytes to the “Yamanaka factors” – a group of compounds that induce cells to revert to a non specialized, stage.

        The iPS cells obtained were then grown in the lab and induced to differentiate into killer T lymphocytes again. This new batch of T lymphocytes was shown to be specific for the same type of skin cancer as the original lymphocytes.

        They maintained the genetic reorganization, enabling them to express the cancer-specific receptor on their surface. The new T lymphocytes were also shown to be active and to produce an anti-tumour compound.

“We have succeeded in the expansion of antigen-specific T cells by making iPS cells and differentiating them back into functional T cells.” Kawamoto said.