Kill Switch : Triggers The Death Of Cancer Cells
Scientists from the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center in, California, have made a significant breakthrough by discovering a ‘kill switch’ that triggers the death of cancer cells.
- The researchers identified a protein on a receptor, known as CD95 receptors or Fas, which can be designed to induce self-destruction in cancer cells when activated.
- The discovery is part of CAR T-cell therapy, involving the collection of T cells from the patient’s blood, genetic modification in a lab to produce chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), and then injecting the modified cells back into the patient’s body.
- The therapy has shown promising efficacy against liquid cancers like leukaemia but has demonstrated limited success against solid tumours such as breast, lung, and bowel cancer.
- Despite this limitation, the research team is hopeful that the therapy can evolve to target solid cancers in the future.
- The identified epitope on CD95 receptors offers a potential therapeutic path to target Fas in tumours.
