Hard at work
Linda’s sister Carolyn alerted me to this article, from Fox News
via Yahoo! It may be very important, or
it may prove to be another promising idea that went all catawampus. Let’s hope for the best,
So, folks from Duke University have been pursuing an idea
that seems to me to be a contribution to the hot field of immunotherapy. We have talked several times before about “checkpoint
inhibitors”. Here, for instance, is my first
attempt to explain them:
Briefly, checkpoint proteins lodged on the exterior cell
wall of normal cells prevent the attack of immune T cells that circulate in the
bloodstream. Invading organisms, lacking
such signals, are quickly gobbled up.
Diabolically, cancer cells manage to protect themselves by exhibiting
these same checkpoint proteins. However,
molecules can be devised that bind to the checkpoints and render them non-functional. The T cells thereupon attack. Query:
Doesn’t that leave healthy cells at risk, also? Hello, bad side effects.
Well, the Duke people seem to have done something
similar. They are attempting to disarm a
protein called CFH (Complementary Factor H), which, they say, protects the
cancer cell from immune attack. They
also say that CFH is present only on tumor cells, not on healthy cells. The immune weapon here seems to be white
blood cells (leucocytes) which also can kill the bad guys. Second Query:
Does this mean that side effects would be reduced, or absent?
Third Query: Is CFH a
part of a cancer checkpoint?
So, the Duke guys have tried their weapon out on multiple
cancer cell lines, as well as a host of long-suffering mice. How close they are to human trials is not
discussed. So far, though, so good. Interestingly enough, they aren’t seeking to
totally eradicate the cancer cells, only to keep them in check. Apparently if they do this for a time the
natural immune system will wake up and finish the job. Let’s hope.
Thanks for the tip, Carolyn.
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