covering the week's top textbooks like
Linux bias not to create false hope but
this is too huge not to mention
scientists at Cardiff University have
discovered a part of our immune system
that can kill prostate breast lung and
other cancers in lab tests the findings
published in Nature immunology have not
yet been tested in patients but the
researchers say that they have enormous
potential experts are saying that
although the work was still at an early
stage it is very exciting our immune
system is our body's natural defense
against infection but it also attacks
cancerous cells the scientists were
looking for unconventional and
previously undiscovered ways the immune
system naturally attacks tumors what
they found was a t-cell inside people's
blood this is an immune cell that can
scan the body to assess whether there is
a threat that needs to be eliminated the
difference is that the one in particular
that they discovered can seemingly
attack a wide range of cancers
researcher professor Andrew Sewall says
quote there is a chance to treat every
patient previously nobody believed this
could be possible it raises the prospect
of a one-size-fits-all cancer treatment
a single type of t-cell that could be
capable of destroying many different
types of cancers across the population
end quote the discovered t-cell was able
to kill a wide range of cancerous cells
in in the lab including lung skin blood
colon breast bone prostate ovarian
kidney and cervical cancer cells Wow
crucially it left normal tissues
untouched exactly how it does all this
is still being explored the idea is that
a blood sample would be taken from a
cancer patient the T cells in the sample
would be extracted
and genetically modified so that they
were they were reprogrammed to make the
cancer finding receptor the upgraded
cells would be grown in vast quantities
in the laboratory and then put back into
the patient Daniel Davis a professor of
immunology at the University of
Manchester said quote at the moment this
is very basic research and not close for
two actual medicines for patients there
is no question that is a very exciting
discovery both for advancing our basic
knowledge about the immune system and
the possibility of future new medicines
and quote more safety checks will be
needed before human trials can begin I
like this this isn't necessarily a text
story but it's a human interest story
that is here because of tech yeah the
advancements that we have made in
science to be able to get to the point
where it's like what else is there let's
explore the body even further let's
alter this cell and see what happens
yeah and boom suddenly we're going is
this it that is so cool exactly the
truth of the matter is right now cancer
treatments are just they seem so
barbaric right now they're life-saving
but they're super intrusive so I mean
you know the chemotherapy surgery the
things that that are just really
radiation things that are really
detrimental to the human body just to
keep it alive you can have an immune
response against cancer that that just
annihilates any trace of it I just
cannot wait I don't really like does
anyone else feel that like excitement
and the anticipation like could it be
like could that be possible and all
they're doing is taking the t-cell that
you already produce out and they're just
replicating it like they're kind of
growing more on their own they're
altering it to put in the receptor to
find the cancer cells so that's a bit of
a genetic modification and then they're
culturing more so there can't be adverse
reactions because
your own sure I mean I don't understand
the science Ike yeah pretend to
understand the science but I know there
was a time in our history when
penicillin didn't exist and when and
when it was discovered if you will that
was a mistake
yeah but so so when it was accidentally
discovered how earth-shatteringly like
how many lives were saved how many lives
were improved because of it it's you
know what I was having a conversation
with one of my clients the other day and
her older siblings were born before
penicillin oh wow he said the reason I'm
not deaf is because penicillin existed
for me and not for my brothers Wow right
so heartbreaking right yet at the same
time it's like dawn of a new era
yeah right it's very cool so are we at
that point with cancer I don't think we
are but I'm hopeful I'm like I'm so
hopeful in humanity and and our our
ability to accomplish that because I
just want that
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