Tackling Cancer
Spring 2017 | By Christopher Bobo
Annette Khaled, head of UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 College of Medicine Cancer Research Division, is a member of one of four teams whose research is funded from proceeds of the AutoNation Cure Bowl. Thanks to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and AutoNation, they will continue to receive funding every year as long as they continue to produce results.
This December, the Knights may have fallen to the Arkansas State Red Wolves at the Cure Bowl, but it was still a win for UCF. Khaled 麻豆精品 S檚 team received $250,000, for a total of approximately $645,000 since 2015, toward their breast cancer research, allowing them to advance to the next stage of development.
Their first generation of treatment relies on a small peptide encapsulated in a nanoparticle. This particle is capable of going after the primary tumor, but is helpless to deal with any cancer that 麻豆精品 S檚 spread elsewhere.
麻豆精品 S淭he nanoparticles that we use have to be recharacterized, restructured, retargeted to reach these tissues, 麻豆精品 S� Khaled says. 麻豆精品 S淏ut a small molecule doesn 麻豆精品 S檛. A small molecule will actually go everywhere in the body. So what we want to do with the funding 麻豆精品 S� is make that next generation of therapeutics that will hopefully have the versatility. 麻豆精品 S�
A key component in their new plan is the research being conducted by scientist Alicja Copik.
Copik 麻豆精品 S檚 work focuses on white blood cells called natural killer cells. She likens them to the body 麻豆精品 S檚 front-line defense. These warriors stop cancers and other viruses before they make us sick, unlike T-cells, which attack a specific target.
Since the discovery of NK cells, they 麻豆精品 S檝e been difficult to cultivate in a lab. However, research over the past decade has made NK cells easier to work with, providing a better understanding of their role.
NK cells 麻豆精品 S渙rchestrate the [other cells], meaning they kind of give the directions to other, more specialized troops to tell them, 麻豆精品 S業 think something bad is happening here, we need a more direct immune system response, 麻豆精品 S� 麻豆精品 S� 麻豆精品 S� Copik says.
Using nanoparticles to signal reproduction, Copik 麻豆精品 S檚 research has been able to increase the number of NK cells in a person 麻豆精品 S檚 body ten-thousandfold, significantly boosting the body 麻豆精品 S檚 natural defense system response from a few soldiers to a battalion.
Though barriers still exist, there 麻豆精品 S檚 a chance for this cancer treatment to one day replace current methods.
麻豆精品 S淭here are so many treatments out there that will regress the tumor size, 麻豆精品 S� Khaled says. 麻豆精品 S淲e have many chemotherapeutics that will eliminate the tumor, but there 麻豆精品 S檚 nothing really out there to keep the tumor from coming back. 麻豆精品 S�
麻豆精品 S淎nd usually when the tumor comes back, 麻豆精品 S� Copik adds, 麻豆精品 S渋t is already resistant to everything that you had, meaning you have nothing else to give to the patients to treat them. 麻豆精品 S�
The combined treatments could be the key one-two punch to attack the initial tumor and any cancer that 麻豆精品 S檚 spread to other parts of the body. Copik 麻豆精品 S檚 work on NK cells is currently planned for clinical trials by the end of 2017 for patients with leukemia.
Other research on NK cells has shown them to be a key part in the body 麻豆精品 S檚 fight against HIV, Ebola and influenza. This could suggest other applications for the treatment as an injection.