New stealth cells can battle against cancer.

"A new study identifies genetic modifications that make “natural killer” more effective at destroying cancer cells. Credit: NIAID" (ScitechDaily, MIT and Harvard Build “Invisible” Immune Cells That Obliterate Cancer)

“In biology, chimeric antigen receptors (CARs)—also known as chimeric immunoreceptors, chimeric T cell receptors or artificial T cell receptors—are receptor proteins that have been engineered to give T cells the new ability to target a specific antigen. The receptors are chimeric in that they combine both antigen-binding and T cell activating functions into a single receptor.” (Wikipedia, CAR T cell)

“CAR T cell therapy uses T cells engineered with CARs to treat cancer. T cells are modified to recognize cancer cells and destroy them. The standard approach is to harvest T cells from patients, genetically alter them, then infuse the resulting CAR T cells into patients to attack their tumors.” (Wikipedia, CAR T cell)

The CAR-NK (Natural killer) cells are genetically engineered versions of the CAR-T cells. That normally destroys cancer cells and virus-infected cells. There is a possibility. To create those cells using cloning and genetic engineering. But the problem is. How to make those genetically engineered cells avoid the immune system. The problem with those cells is that the system must create them from the patient’s own cells. And that limits the use of those cells in immune therapy. 

That purpose is used in cancer treatment. It’s possible to create lots of CAR-NK-cells in laboratories. In a conventional way. It takes several weeks to produce enough CAR-T cells to fight against cancer. If the therapy must be given. By growing those CAR-NK cells. Using the patient’s own cells. 

“In the new study, the MIT team set out to find a way to help NK cells 'hide' from a patient’s immune system. Through studies of immune cell interactions. They showed. NK cells could evade a host T-cell response if they did not carry surface proteins called HLA class 1 proteins. These proteins, usually expressed on NK cell surfaces, can trigger T cells to attack if the immune system doesn’t recognize them as “self.” (ScitechDaily,MIT and Harvard Build “Invisible” Immune Cells That Obliterate Cancer)

“To take advantage of this, the researchers engineered the cells to express a sequence of siRNA (short interfering RNA) that interferes with the genes for HLA class 1. They also delivered the CAR gene, as well as the gene for either PD-L1 or single-chain HLA-E (SCE). PD-L1 and SCE are proteins. That makes NK cells more effective by turning up genes. Those involved in killing cancer cells.” (ScitechDaily,MIT and Harvard Build “Invisible” Immune Cells That Obliterate Cancer)

Above: Traditional way to make CAR-T cells. 

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“CAR-NK therapy”

“Natural killer cells belong to the innate immune system, while they perform anti-tumor functions in a very similar mechanism to CD8+ cytotoxic T-cells. CAR-NK provides new perspectives in the cancer immunotherapy field after the advancement of CAR-T therapy.”

Advantages

“1) Improved safety: mitigated cytokine release syndrome, neurotoxicity and graft-versus-host response compared to CAR-T therapy.”

“2)Multiple activation mechanisms: can perform cytotoxic activity both CAR-dependently and CAR-independently.”

“3) off-the-shelf" potential.”

“Limitations"

"The lack of an efficient way for gene transduction is the major limitation of CAR-NK therapy. Although retroviral vectors exhibit up to 70% efficiency with the presence of membrane-bound cytokines, it would bring problems such as insertional mutagenesis and reduced NK viability. While lentivirus transduction generally causes lower genotoxicity but with lower transfection efficiency”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_adoptive_immunotherapy

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But the problem is: how to make their surface antigens match the receiver’s immune system. If those surface antigens are wrong immune system attacks those cells immediately. And that can make the therapy even more harmful than leaving the patient without therapy. So, what people need is a large number of neutral CAT-NK cells that can be injected into any patient. And researchers have created  CAR-NK cells. That doesn’t launch the immune system. 

Another problem is that. It’s possible that those cancer patients’ immune systems are very weak. That causes risk, the CAR-NK cells. These are injected into the patient’s body. It can start to attack healthy cells. The main element in the immune therapy is that. Those injected CAR-NK cells must recognize the targeted cells and separate them from other cells. 

Harvard and MIT created the CAR-NK cells that don’t carry the HAL surface proteins. That makes those cells avoid immune attack, because the HAL antigen activates T-cell attack against those cells. Without the HAL protein, the T-cell will not activate. 

This kind of research makes it possible. To create many other organ transplant technologies. There is a possibility of creating blood. That fits everybody. 

The ability to make stealth cells is a tool. That can also help to give treatment for many injuries. If researchers can make. Universal blood cells, bone marrow, universal bone cells, and universal tissues can be transplanted to any person. That gives them the possibility to create new types of medical treatments. The ability to create universal cells that don’t activate the immune system makes it possible to create 3D printed organs that can save lives. The major problem with the 3D-printed organs is how to get enough cells that don’t activate the immune system. But if somebody can create the cells there. The immune activators are stripped; that thing can turn. New types of therapies are possible. For diseases and accidents. 

But the problem is that this kind of technology is dangerous in the wrong hands. Those techniques allow researchers to create new types of biological weapons. Those biological weapons can be bacteria or maybe viruses that don’t activate the immune system. Those weapons could form things like poisons in the human body. Or they can attack vital organs. The biological weapon can be transgenetic bacteria. That pollutes the human body, creates viruses, or poisons. After a certain time, those biological weapons can destroy themselves. 

https://scitechdaily.com/mit-and-harvard-build-invisible-immune-cells-that-obliterate-cancer/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAR_T_cell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_adoptive_immunotherapy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentivirus