Cancer immunotherapy :Study of T-Cell antigen receptor signaling functions

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

7 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

04/24/2009

Category :

Science & technology

Sub category :

Medical studies

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Summary :

Introduction
Bone marrow transplant therapy for leukemia
Studies conducted by Dr. Renier Brentjens at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Methods and materials
1. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) of 4-1BBH6
2. PCR of DAP10H6
Direct ligation with Taq-Amplified (TA) cloning technology
Transformation of DNA plasmids
Plasmid mini-prep and restriction digest
DNA sequencing
Generation of 4-1BBH6 retroviral particles for T cell modification
Protein analysis
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
References

Abstract

cancer immunotherapy attempts to harness the immune system, including T cells, to target and eliminate malignant T cells in the host. However, generating efficient tumor immunity presents a major challenge to the scientist. The immune system is unable to recognize the tumor cells. These cells are resistant to T cell attack and grow uncontrolled. Tumor cells have many characteristics that allow them to escape detection by the immune system. The lack of target antigens on their surface, the difficulty of the immune system in overcoming tolerance to self-antigens on the tumor, and the decreased expression of immune recognized antigens by the tumor all contribute to the ineffective targeting of T cells to cancer cells.In bone marrow transplantation therapy for leukemia, tumor cell degradation is increased by the presence of healthy donor T cells able to target and kill remaining tumor cells. This is called a graft-versus-leukemia effect, which helps the patient to go into remission. However, infusion of T cells included in the donor bone marrow graft can also generate complications as a result of graft-versus-host disease.2 In graft-versus-host disease, the T cells from the donor's marrow may identify the patient's normal tissue as foreign, attacking the patient's healthy cells and causing severe side effects for the patient. This shows that T cells can beneficially kill cancer cells but may be dangerous as well.