Nania Platt

Oct. 3, 2018
Human Biology
News Analysis #1
T cells Engineered to Home in on Brain Cancer

The main conclusions that this article on, “T cells engineered to home in on Brain
Cancer” is to state that, “T​ cells...target tumours are an efficient way to combat many
types of cancer” such as glioblastoma (Platten 2018). There have been many tests that
been conducted in laboratories on mice to helping create/engineer T cells that will
trigger or home in on a glioblastoma cell, they are called CD6 (HS–CD6). And also
found, “...the presence of multimeric HS-CD6 on T cells enhanced adhesiveness
between these cells and ALCAM-expressing endothelial cells and, as predicted,
enabled transendothelial migration in in vitro models” (Platten 2018). Where the ALCAM
is what is being halted when glioblastoma cells are present. Their research design is to
implant the glioblastoma cells into the brains of mice and then with the T cell that has
been engineered into those glioblastoma cells regions. Where the T cells can home in
on the glioblastoma and destroy it. And so far they have seen much success but have
yet to incorporate their research into patients. From what they have found it looks
plausible that their efforts will efficiently work to stop glioblastoma, brain cancer.

The information from this article will impact in large those people that are affected
by glioblastoma. So in part it impacts the health care practices for those that treat
cancer. This may be a less harsh way to treat cancer as has been done before. Much
research has been done for all sorts of cancers but with further research, glioblastoma
may be halted in its tracks once and for all and go into remission with the T cells that
are being engineered. As well as health care professionals, this research may impact
financially the government as they do further research and getting the funds they need.
There is still much to do done before the general public has access to it. But with the
entrance of this article on the internet, researchers want people to be aware of it and get
funding.

The article does not directly say that they are affiliated with an sort of group other
than saying who the researcher is, Samaha and colleagues, but may very well be from
cancer institution looking for better ways to put glioblastoma to a stop, as the article
states in its subheading, “...to improve migration of T cells across the blood–brain
barrier could overcome this limitation” (Platten 2018). But if they were affiliated with
group such as a pharmaceutical company it would change their conclusions to more
definite answers so that the company could get more money to perform the procedure
because more people would want it. As of current they are not done with their research
and the author of the article is letting the science world know of what research is being
done. For me as I was reading this it got me excited to learn more about what types of
cancer research there is and that chemotherapy that has been done before for cancer
may be put away if other less harsh immunotherapy is possible. And so with the
research only having been successful in mice, there is some speculation on whether it
will be functional in humans. As well as, “.... toxicity could be an issue if T-cell targeting
damages healthy brain tissue, either directly or indirectly” (Platten 2018). T cell toxicity
being an issue there will be health care providers and government powers that will need
more verified research before the tests can be done in human patients.

As I have already mentioned, this article informed the reader of a new

immunotherapy to brain cancer, specifically glioblastoma. I found myself very enthralled
in the way the article was given, I learned so much about how the brain works in its
cells, about the brain barrier and about T cells. I learned, “Binding between ALCAM and
the T-cell ligand CD6 halts the progress of activated T cells through blood vessels,
allowing subsequent binding by ICAM-1 and VCAM-1” (Platten 2018), which is a normal
function of the brain and when it is not working “endothelial cells produce little or no
ICAM-1 and VCAM-1” (Platten 2018). This is interesting to me because I have found
myself be drawn to cancer research and this article gave me some insights of what
possible work I could contribute to. The reporter of this article gave very much depth of
the topic of glioblastoma and all the research the scientists have done so far. There is
even a figure 1 that shows what their research has done in targeting tumor cells. An
example of this, scientists, “...reasoned that, by engineering T cells to bind to ALCAM
more firmly, they could enhance T-cell anchoring in the endothelium and subsequently
improve transendothelial migration. To this end, the authors generated a synthetic
ligand for ALCAM, derived from CD6” (Platten 2018). He also talks about all the steps
scientists have taken to form CD6 the homing device that is supposed to home in on
glioblastoma or cancer cells and destroy them. Also that there is still much research
needed to be done before they test the T cell on actual patients. Though with all the
information stated in the article, it can excite audiences that immunotherapy for
glioblastoma is possible. I hope to learn more myself on cancer therapy and all the cell
therapy that is possible to cure the diseases in today’s world.

Reference
Platten, Michael. “T cells engineered to home in on brain cancer,” Nature International
Journal of Science, last modified September 5, 2018, accessed Oct. 1, 2018,
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05883-7#ref-CR9