Killing Cancer by Remote Control

A remote command could one day send immune cells on a rampage against a malignant tumor. The ability to mobilize, from outside the body, targeted cancer immunotherapy inside the body has taken a step closer to becoming reality.

Petit Institute researcher Gabe Kwong and his research team of bioengineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have installed a heat-sensitive switch into T-cells that can activate them when heat turns on the switch. The method, tested in mice and published in a new study, is locally targeted and could someday help turn immunotherapy into a precision instrument in the fight against cancer.

Immunotherapy has made headlines with high-profile successes, like saving former U.S. President Jimmy Carter from brain cancer. But the treatment, which activates the body’s own immune system against cancer and other diseases, has also proved to be hit-or-miss.

Kwong says this study is a step closer to making T-cell therapies more effective.

To read the entire story from Georgia Tech’s Research Horizons, click here.