Posted on: Tue 07-01-2014

. Specially selected proteins can be attached to white blood cells so that as they travel through the blood, they also destroy cancerous cells
. Biomedical engineers at Cornell University made the breakthrough, which prevents the disease from infecting other organs
. They discovered that when a cancer cell comes into contact with the TRAIL protein in the blood stream, it essentially kills itself

A revolutionary method of destroying cancer cells in the blood stream before they infect other parts of the body has been discovered by biomedical engineers. Proteins that kill cancer cells can be attached to white blood cells - which protect the body from infections - so that as they travel through the blood, they also destroy cancerous cells.

This new technique prevents the disease from infecting other organs, U.S. researchers said.

HOW ARE THE CANCEROUS CELLS KILLED USING THE NEW METHOD?
Proteins that kill cancer cells - E-selectin, an adhesive, and Tumour Necrosis Factor Related Apoptosis Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) - can be attached to white blood cells. Together the proteins stick to white blood cells, which are abundant in the bloodstream. When a cancer cell comes into contact with TRAIL, which is nearly unavoidable in the frenzied flow of blood, the cancer cell essentially kills itself.

The engineers said the repurposing of white blood cells in flowing blood is more effective than directly targeting the cancer cells with liposomes or soluble protein. Surgery and radiation are effective at treating primary tumours, but difficulty in detecting metastatic cancer cells (cancerous cells that spread from one organ to another) has made treatment of the spreading cancers very difficult.

However, researchers at  Cornell University, New York, believe their new technique solves this problem. Michael King, professor of biomedical engineering at the university, said: ‘These circulating cancer cells are doomed.

‘About 90 per cent of cancer deaths are related to metastases, but now we’ve found a way to dispatch an army of killer white blood cells that cause apoptosis - the cancer cell’s own death - obliterating them from the bloodstream. ‘When surrounded by these guys, it becomes nearly impossible for the cancer cell to escape.’

Professor King injected human blood samples and later mice, with two proteins in laboratory tests. One protein was an adhesive called E-selectin and the other was Tumour Necrosis Factor Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand (TRAIL). The TRAIL protein joined with the E-selectin protein stick to leukocytes, otherwise known as white blood cells, which are abundant in the bloodstream.

When a cancer cell comes into contact with TRAIL, which is nearly unavoidable in the frenzied flow of blood, the cancer cell essentially kills itself, the researchers explained in the study, which is published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

‘The mechanism is surprising and unexpected in that this repurposing of white blood cells in flowing blood is more effective than directly targeting the cancer cells with liposomes or soluble protein,’ Professor King said. When treating cancer cells with the proteins in saline, the researchers found a 60 per cent success rate in killing the cancer cells.

In normal laboratory conditions, the saline lacks white blood cells to serve as a carrier for the adhesive and killer proteins. However, once the proteins were added to flowing blood that mimicked human-body conditions, the success rate in killing the cancer cells jumped to nearly 100 per cent.

Dailymail

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