In a path-breaking discovery, biologists have created a new
technology for modifying human cells to create therapeutics that could
travel the body and selectively target and kill cancer cells without
disrupting healthy cells.
This device is a protein biosensor that sits on the surface of a cell and can be programmed to sense specific external factors.
After
detecting these factors, the device sends a signal into the engineered
cell's nucleus to activate a gene expression programme.
"Till
date, there was no way to engineer cells in a manner that allowed them
to sense key pieces of information about their environment, which could
indicate whether the engineered cell is in healthy tissue or sitting
next to a tumour," explained Joshua Leonard, an assistant professor at
Northwestern University's McCormick school of engineering and applied
science.
For example, the engineered cell could detect big, soluble protein molecules that indicate that it is next to a tumour.
"Since
this toxic programme would be activated only near tumour cells, such an
approach could minimise side effects as well as improve therapeutic
benefits," Leonard added.
The biosensor platform is highly
modular, enabling the biosensors to be customised to recognise factors
of relevance to various patients' needs.
"In that way, you could programme a cell-based therapy to specify which cells it should kill," Leonard added.
Doctors
could potentially collect immune cells from a patient's body, engineer
the cells using the biosensor platform and put them back into the
patient.
"From there, the cells would do the work of detecting
cancer or the disease they are designed to identify," the researchers
added.
The study has been
published in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology.
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