News 24 Shrimp helps in the development of immunotherapy for cancer

The enzymes present in shrimp and some crustaceans have provided a solution to the development of a cancer immunotherapy known as CAR-T cells, which are currently undergoing clinical trials.

CAR-T uses industrial receptors known as CAR or Carr, but the main challenge of scientists in this context is the lack of rapid, economical and accurate testing to detect Carr's success in targeting tumors . This problem was treated by an American research team as part of its research published yesterday in the journal Scientific Reports, using enzymes found in shrimp and some crustaceans called luciferases, which give these bodies luster and the ability to produce light in the deep sea.

"We are simply combining marine luciferase enzymes with CAR receptors in CARTI cells manufactured to produce a protein called CD19-luciferase or CD-19 luciferase," says Dr. Britt Chaudhry, principal investigator of Asharq Al-Awsat. ).

"When CARTI cells are regenerated from the T cells containing the new protein, they target the CD19 proteins of cancerous tumors in the body.Lucierase glomerulonase helps release a measurement of light that can be measured, after giving to patients" .

"This new technology, called Topanga, helps doctors identify patients at high risk of these cells' toxicity, who may not achieve their goals," says Chaudhry.

The team is seeking to test the new technology in clinical trials, having achieved great success in the preclinical stage, showing high sensitivity and accuracy in detecting the efficacy of Karti cells.