Immunotherapy through the reprogramming of immune cells has been a glorious breakthrough for cancer treatment after many years of persistent endeavors.
Nowadays, all types of immune cells, like T cells, macrophages, and natural killer cells, can be reprogrammed with T-cell reprogramming.
Photo: YouTube/Dana-Farber Cancer InstituteSuccess and Challenges of T-Cell Reprogramming
T cells, also called T lymphocytes, originate from stem cells in the bone marrow, and they mature in the thymus gland located between the lungs just behind the breastbone. These white blood cells are the body’s guardians against infections.
T-cell therapy starts by collecting T cells from a patient’s blood. Afterward, they undergo cell engineering that requires accuracy in construct adjustment and modification in order to eliminate diseased cells. The chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) method is also another effective means of T-cell reprogramming wherein an artificial modular protein is designed to identify specific antigens on the surface of target diseased cells and to trigger T cells to kill them.
This CAR T-cell therapy has been successful with blood cancers, particularly blood B tumors and leukemia.

However, when it comes to solid tumors, these are harder for CAR T cells to target. This is because the main mode of administration for CAR T cells is intravenous (IV) infusions, which make the T cells flow through a patient’s entire body. But solid tumors have specific locations, are denser, and have various defenses against immune cells.
“It’s kind of like a battle territory that’s filled with terrible things trying to fight off these T cells,” said Abigail Grosskopf, a Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering at Stanford University. “So the CAR-T cells have a hard time infiltrating to attack that tumor.”

Moreover, a high concentration of signaling proteins called cytokines is needed to produce enough CAR T cells to kill a solid tumor. If administered through IV, the body would suffer from cytokine storm.
But, Grosskopf and her colleagues were able to invent a new delivery method for both CAR T cells and cytokines to reach and destroy solid tumors without causing further harm to the body.
A Miraculous Gel to Kill Solid Tumors
Based on the study that was published in Science Advances, Grosskopf and her team were able to invent a hydrogel where they could place CAR T cells and cytokines safely together. The hydrogel shares similar characteristics with biological tissues, and once filled up, it can be injected right next to the solid tumor.
Within the hydrogel, the cytokines will instruct the CAR T cells to replicate. and, as the immune cells continuously reproduce, these will attack the tumor growth until it is destroyed.

What is amazing about this hydrogel is that it is just made of water, a polymer from a plant’s cellulose, and biodegradable nanoparticles. And yet it has the strength and flexibility of a molecular Velcro.
“A lot of the CAR-T cell field is focusing on how to make better cells themselves, but there is much less focus on how to make the cells more effective once in the body. So what we’re doing is totally complementary to all of the efforts to engineer better cells,” explained Eric Appel, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford University and senior author of the paper.

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WhizzcoOriginal Article