cancer tagged posts

Killer T cells (green and red) surrounding a cancer cell. Credit: Alex Ritter, Jennifer Lippincott Schwartz, Gillian Griffiths/National Institutes of Health

In experiments with mice immune cells, called synNotch T cells, efficiently homed in on tumors and released a specialized antibody therapy, eradicating the cancer without attacking normal cells. In addition to delivering therapeutic agents, synNotch cells can be programmed to kill cancer cells in a variety of other ways. But synNotch cells can also carry out instructions that suppress the immune response, offering the possibility that these cells could be used to treat autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes or to locally suppress immune system rejection of transplanted organs.

“SynNotch is a universal molecular sensor that allows ...

Dr. Axel Kallies, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Credit: The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Researchers have uncovered the genes responsible for the way the body fights infection at the point of ‘invasion’. Hobit and Blimp1 have been found and these transcription factors control a universal molecular program responsible for placing immune cells at the ‘front lines’ of the body to fight infection and cancer. The presence of these organ-residing cells, which differ strikingly from their counterparts circulating in the blood stream, is key to local protection against viruses and bacteria.

Identifying how immune cells remain in the part of the body where they are needed most was critical to developing better ways to protect us from infections such as malaria or HIV...

•Lipoprotein cholesterol supports tumor growth •Tumors increase VLDL/LDL levels •Ces3/TGH deficiency attenuates tumor-induced hyperlipidemia via inhibition of PCSK9 •Tumor growth was suppressed in Ces3/Tgh−/− mice

Several studies have recognized a link between obesity and cancer. Richard Lehner, professor of Pediatrics and investigator at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, has taken his research further to understand how tumour cells grow through scavenging very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and what mechanisms can be used to reduce the malignant cells’ growth.

The data gathered from their experiments suggest a feed-forward loop, in which tumours not only use lipids as “building blocks” to grow, but they can regulat...

Ultrasensitive Antibody Detection by Agglutination-PCR (ADAP)

A new technique is thousands of times more sensitive than current techniques in lab experiments, and it is now being put to test in real-world clinical trials. Tagging antibodies or related biomarkers involves designing a molecule that the biomarker will bind to, and which is adorned with an identifying “flag.” Through immunoassays, researchers can isolate that flag, and the biomarker bound to it, to provide a proxy measurement of the disease.

The new technique, developed in the lab of Prof. Carolyn Bertozzi, augments this standard procedure with powerful DNA screening technology...