Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Source: WION
Context: Scientists from the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center in, California, have made a significant breakthrough by discovering a ‘kill switch’ that triggers the death of cancer cells.
- The researchers identified a protein on a receptor, known as CD95 receptors or Fas, which can be designed to induce self-destruction in cancer cells when activated.
- The discovery is part of CAR T-cell therapy, involving the collection of T cells from the patient’s blood, genetic modification in a lab to produce chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), and then injecting the modified cells back into the patient’s body.
- The therapy has shown promising efficacy against liquid cancers like leukaemia but has demonstrated limited success against solid tumours such as breast, lung, and bowel cancer.
Despite this limitation, the research team is hopeful that the therapy can evolve to target solid cancers in the future. The identified epitope on CD95 receptors offers a potential therapeutic path to target Fas in tumours.
