BY a trick of cellular alchemy, scientists are turning one type of immune cell into another that could help the body fight cancer.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia report in the current issue of the Journal of Immunology (vol 159, p 3823) that by adding calcium and chemicals called cytokines to monocytes鈥攚hite blood cells which are plentiful in the body鈥攖hey can turn them into rare dendritic cells.
These cells chew up bits of cancer cells and invading bacteria and carry the fragments around on their membranes. The fragments, or antigens, train other immune cells to destroy the tumours and invaders. The team hopes that by taking monocytes from cancer patients and transforming them into dendritic cells, then exposing them to tumour cell antigens, the resulting activated cells can be given back to the patients as a vaccine.
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Brian Czerniecki, one of the research team, says a clinical trial with around 40 melanoma patients is planned for the spring. 鈥淭his work鈥檚 in its infancy,鈥� he told New 杏吧原创. 鈥淏ut in the next ten years, we could see big advances in cancer treatment.鈥�