Tag: T cells

Teachable moment in classrooms:

integumentary system chapter – location and function of melanocytes in skin
lymphatic and immune system chapter – the role of T lymphocytes (T cells) in the immune defense reaction
lymphatic and immune system chapter – mechanism of cell killing by cytotoxic T cells

The news item: Recently this report appeared online:

Patient is first treated with drug newly OK’d for melanoma

A Stanford Medicine melanoma patient is first in the nation to receive a cell-based therapy the FDA has approved for treating solid tumors.

The article informs us that a new therapy called “lificel” is being employed to treat patients with metastasized melanoma. The therapy includes removing a portion of the melanoma, extracting T cells from the tumor, stimulating the T cells to multiply into the millions, and infusing the new T cells into the patient.

So, Why Do I Care?? There are about 1.4 million people in the US alone living with melanoma, and the yearly new diagnosed cases are over 100,000. There are about 8,000 deaths from melanoma yearly. The metastasized stage of melanoma has a 5-year survival rate of about 20%. It is important to evaluate new therapies, because we want to increase the survival rate.

Plain English, Please!!! First, let’s talk about what metastasized melanoma is. Normally melanocytes reside in the epidermis layer of the skin where they produce the dark substance called melanin which protects the cells from UV light. When melanocytes start to divide uncontrollably, a cancer called melanoma forms. Melanomas have the tendency to release clumps of cancer cells, and those clumps spread through lymphatic vessels and grow into new cancer lump. Those new cancer lumps are called metastasis. Traditional chemotherapy drugs have been unable to kill off metastasized melanomas.

Second, let’s talk about how our immune system fights melanoma. Whenever cancer cells form, they produce modified proteins and sometimes new proteins,

Can we use an antibody to strengthen patients’ own immune system to fight childhood soft tissue cancer?

By admin

On December 18, 2023

In cellular basis of life, lymphatic and immune system, tissues

Teachable moment in classrooms:

tissue chapter – general characteristics of epithelial and connective tissues
cellular basis of life chapter – proteins in cell membranes can serve as receptors
immune system chapter – CD8-T-cells actively destroy target cells
immune system chapter – antibodies can be engineered to bind to specific targets

The news item:

Recently a newly approved treatment for childhood soft tissue cancer was reported:

Drug Approved to Help Young Patients Battle a Rare Cancer

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The article states that the drug Tecentriq was approved for use against alveolar soft part sarcoma (a soft tissue cancer). About 80 children and adults in the USA are diagnosed each year with his sarcoma, and most conventional treatments fail to fight it. The article also states that Tecentriq is an anti-PD-L1 inhibitor, and works by helping the immune system respond more strongly to cancer.

So, Why Do I Care?? While the overall number of cancer patients diagnosed with alveolar soft part sarcoma is low, these patients could not be helped by regular cancer treatments. Finding new cancer treatment approaches for these patients opens the possibility to treat other cancers where traditional cancer treatment failed.

Plain English, Please!!! First, let’s talk about what a sarcoma is. The sarcoma type of cancers start from connective tissue, as opposed to the carcinoma type of cancers that start from epithelial tissues. The general course of the sarcomas is similar to other cancers, and that includes local growth, and the spreading, metastasizing throughout the body. Alveolar soft part sarcoma was named such, because the cancer cells form baggy, alveolus-looking microscopic structures.

Second, let’s talk about how cancer cells can slow down the immune system. One normal function of our immune system is to detect and destroy cells that show evidence of infection or abnormal components.