Jan 21, 2020 14:00:00

Successfully developed `` a new type of immune cell that kills only cancer cells '' with CRISPR-Cas9

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare

statistics , malignant neoplasms (cancer) rank among the top three causes of death from 1 to 94 years old, and have set a goal of `` how to overcome cancer '' Medical research is being conducted energetically. Meanwhile, it was reported that ' immune cells that identify and kill only cancer cells ' were developed using genome editing technology that applied CRISPR-Cas9 .

Genome-wide CRISPR–Cas9 screening reveals ubiquitous T cell cancer targeting via the monomorphic MHC class I-related protein MR1 | Nature Immunology
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-019-0578-8

Discovery of new T-cell raises prospect of 'universal' cancer therapy-News-Cardiff University
https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/1749599-discovery-of-new-t-cell-raises-prospect-of-universal-cancer-therapy

Breakthrough discovery could lead to 'one-size-fits-all' cancer treatment | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/cancer-treatment-therapy-t-cell-universal-tumor-cardiff-university-a9292716.html

There are two main types of immunity: innate immunity and acquired immunity. Innate immunity is to detect and remove foreign substances that have entered the body. For example, macrophages , a type of white blood cell, eat antigens such as bacteria and viruses. Acquisition immunity, on the other hand, is a mechanism by which information is obtained from a part of an antigen to 'selectively find and kill foreign substances.'

T cells , one of the cells that make up this adaptive immune system, have a molecule called the T cell receptor (TCR) on the cell membrane. In addition, human cells and body fluids include HLA (human leukocyte antigen) .T cells recognize this HLA by TCR to identify their own cells or not, and exchange information related to antigens. Or

by Blausen Medical

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CAR-T cell therapy, '' which uses this T cell to treat cancer, removes the patient's T cells outside the body, then modifies and cultures the genes so that the markers of the cancer cells can be distinguished, and re-injects them into the body. It is an immunotherapy in which the cancer cells are brought back to the target. However, it is said that CAR-T cell therapy is disadvantageous in that conventional methods are effective only for a limited type of cancer.

Researchers at Cardiff University reported that they successfully applied CRISPR-Cas9 to create T cells with a 'TCR that can distinguish most types of cancer cells.' Labs have shown that these T cells were able to kill cancer cells in the lungs, skin, blood, colon, breast, bone, prostate, ovary, kidneys, and uterus while ignoring healthy cells. That. The team also reported that injecting these T cells into mice with human immune systems and human cancer cells showed effects comparable to conventional CAR-T cell therapy.

Experiments have also shown that T cells taken from melanoma patients and modified to express a new TCR were effective not only in cancer cells in patients but also in other patients. That The results of this experiment suggest that, instead of rewriting T cells for each patient, 'universally effective T cells for cancer' can be prepared.

`` It's very rare to find a TCR with such broad cancer specificity, which enhances the prospects for universal cancer treatment, '' said Andrew Swell, Cardiff University School of Medicine and lead author of the study. ' Meanwhile, Sewell needed to conduct additional safety tests to show that T cells with the new TCR only recognized cancer cells.