Scientists re-engineer body’s immune system for safer and more effective cancer treatment

We have used powerful X-ray technology to engineer an enhanced kind of white blood cell – known as a T-Cell– capable of targeting cancerous tissue while minimising contact with healthy tissue, which can be fatal to patients receiving this kind of experimental therapy. 
Targeting cancer using T-cells is a growing therapeutic area. They are however limited in their cancer-fighting potential, owing to their inability to attack the body’s own tissue. This is a major obstacle for researchers trying to target cancer cells which often derive from healthy cells. 
To overcome this, we used an enhanced, modified T-cell receptor (TCR), a molecule on the surface of T-cells that acts like highly-sensitive fingertips that probe the body for signs of disease. This approach is currently being trailed for a wide range of cancer targets, but remains potentially dangerous to trial participants. Exploiting a technique known as X-ray crystallography – the same technique used to solve the structure of DNA – we demonstrated how a modified TCR, which was intended to target a cancerous antigen, mistakenly began attacking healthy heart tissue. The synchrotron enabled us to visualize this interaction between the engineered TCR and the cancer and heart tissue markers, to reveal that at an atomic level they were both similar in shape, making it extremely difficult for the T-cells to differentiate between the two.

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TOP STORY - Bionic T-cells kill HIV

We have recently published a groundbreaking study in Nature Medicine that utilises engineered T-cells which can target and kill all natural escape variants of HIV in vitro. This discovery has attracted worldwide interests and has been covered by a number of mainstream publications and news broadcasters!! Links can be found below: