Researchers have successfully used an artificial thymus to turn blood stem cells into T cells. The UCLA researchers have created an artificial organoid as a useful tool in reducing the time and cost of T cell immunotherapy for patients with a low count of WBC’s.
Thymus– the organ located near the heart makes T cells out of blood stem cells to fight off infections. T cells are essentially WBC’s combating ills in the immune system. The UCLA- developed thymus can generate T cells that can attack cancerous tissues while sparing the healthy ones.
Thymus produces natural T cells that carry specialized molecules called receptors that are capable of highlighting cells infected with cancers and viruses. However, the efficiency of the thymus decreases because of disease or old age.
The UCLA research shows that it is possible to create engineered T cells to fight specific diseases like cancer. The study was published in Nature Methods.
The key to create a consistent & safe supply of cancer fighting T cells would be to control the process in a way that deactivates all T cell receptors in the transplanted cells, except for the cancer-fighting receptors.
The UCLA’s team artificial thymus can produce T cells from stem cells and even donated blood. They discovered that the artificially created T cells had wide range of T cell receptors functionally like T cells produced by a real thymus.
The experiment:
Researchers tested the artificial thymic organ for its ability to produce cancer-specific T cells baked by appropriate receptors for specific diseases such as cancer. With the use of a gene, the researchers inserted a cancer-fighting receptor into the blood stem cells and the response they had was encouraging. The artificial organ produced many cancer-specific T cells to turn off other T cell receptors.
The experiments demonstrated that the specifically made T cells can fight cancer without hurting healthy tissues. However, the method has not been tested in humans.
Adoptive T-cell Immunotherapy:
With adoptive T-cell immunotherapy, there is an option to add cancer-seeking receptors to T cells in expanding the frontier of research. This is achieved by collecting T cells from patients, reprogramming these with new receptors and returning them into the body. Artificial thymus will develop cancer fighting T cells on demand.
Early stage breast cancer can have many treatments varying with value, cost and effectiveness. The study identified 105,211 women with early-stage cancer and treatment complications within 24 months of diagnosis. They have treatment options such as lumpectomy, breast irradiation, brachytherapy, mastectomy and reconstruction.
It is also said that lot of women are undergoing bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction during the early stages of cancer because of fear of recurrence.