#2 INDUSTRY ROUNDUP: Blue Blood? Halo on Haematology
BLOOD.
When I was a kid, my best friend absolutely hated the sight of blood. She would shudder everytime someone nicked her finger, flinch at the sight of it pouring out of a bruise and basically just stayed away. I never understood it. To me, blood was fascinating. What was that red thing coming out and WAIT HOW DID IT STOP SO SOON-!
Curiosity on the mysterious red liquid has sparked centuries of interest, and is still an accelerating field. The breath of life might not have been the breath of life without the crimson of haemoglobin, its' organisation allowing it to carry 4 oxygen molecules at a time- oxyhaemoglobin- and carbaminohaemoglobin when it carries carbon dioxide.
Blood is an indicator of health of the body (lots of things are but the POINT is), but its complex chemical composition make it a little tough to investigate. However, decoding blood can help us understand the evasive immune system, the ever active endocrine system and might even help in understanding one of the things we know the least about- the nervous system.
Today's spotlight will be occupied by: *drumroll please*
-Interius BioTherapeutics:
Well... let's start with the CAR-T cell therapy. What's special? You'd be thinking, "...OH cool ANOTHER lecture, JUST what I need." or maybe "Hey, its' that boring old study that my friend's grandmum's friend's friend's friend is taking up!" Lets' forget about all that for a while. A T-cell is a type of lymphocyte, involved in killing infected host cells, activating other immune cells, producing cytokines and regulating the immune response¹. So now, dealing with CAR-T. Chimeric antigen receptors are receptor proteins which are engineered to give T cells the new ability to target a specific protein. Chimeric just means they combine antigen-binding and T-cell activating functions into a single receptor.
1. T-cells are taken from the patient's blood.
2. In a lab, the gene for specific antigen receptors are incorporated into the T-cells.
3. Thus producing the CAR receptors.
4. The engineered T-cells are infused back into the patient.5. The result should be production of T-cells that recognise & fight cancer cells in the body.
Interius plans to treat 'haematologic malignancies' by generating CAR-T cells directly inside the body which minimises the risk of potentially toxic pre-conditioning chemotherapy. Cool!
-Ajax Therapeutics:
Rabbit hole: How many of you have heard of a cytokine storm? With the pandemic and whatnot, I hope you have, but let me explain. In a last attempt to turn the tide when all seems lost, i.e when the first and second line of defence of the body are breached by the pathogen, the immune system launches a cytokine storm, which causes the immune system to launch all its weapons AT ONCE. This leaves behind tons of damage. At this point, the chances of you dying are very high.
OOOK. Anyway, hormones vs cytokines... spot the differences and similarities? I puzzled myself with this one. Basically:
Ajax has the focus on haematological malignancies (seems to be a hot topic). Many modern therapies often interact with other proteins leading to unwanted side effects. Combining computational chemistry and structural biology, they seek to create therapies for significant medical needs by targeting cytokine signalling pathways. Cool!
Visit their sites to know more!
Interius BioTherapeutics
Ajax Therapeutics
---------------------------------*****************----------------------------------
When I was a kid, my best friend absolutely hated the sight of blood. She would shudder everytime someone nicked her finger, flinch at the sight of it pouring out of a bruise and basically just stayed away. I never understood it. To me, blood was fascinating. What was that red thing coming out and WAIT HOW DID IT STOP SO SOON-!
Blood under scanning electron microscope.
Curiosity on the mysterious red liquid has sparked centuries of interest, and is still an accelerating field. The breath of life might not have been the breath of life without the crimson of haemoglobin, its' organisation allowing it to carry 4 oxygen molecules at a time- oxyhaemoglobin- and carbaminohaemoglobin when it carries carbon dioxide.
Blood is an indicator of health of the body (lots of things are but the POINT is), but its complex chemical composition make it a little tough to investigate. However, decoding blood can help us understand the evasive immune system, the ever active endocrine system and might even help in understanding one of the things we know the least about- the nervous system.
Today's spotlight will be occupied by: *drumroll please*
-Interius BioTherapeutics:
Well... let's start with the CAR-T cell therapy. What's special? You'd be thinking, "...OH cool ANOTHER lecture, JUST what I need." or maybe "Hey, its' that boring old study that my friend's grandmum's friend's friend's friend is taking up!" Lets' forget about all that for a while. A T-cell is a type of lymphocyte, involved in killing infected host cells, activating other immune cells, producing cytokines and regulating the immune response¹. So now, dealing with CAR-T. Chimeric antigen receptors are receptor proteins which are engineered to give T cells the new ability to target a specific protein. Chimeric just means they combine antigen-binding and T-cell activating functions into a single receptor.
1. T-cells are taken from the patient's blood.
2. In a lab, the gene for specific antigen receptors are incorporated into the T-cells.
3. Thus producing the CAR receptors.
4. The engineered T-cells are infused back into the patient.5. The result should be production of T-cells that recognise & fight cancer cells in the body.
Interius plans to treat 'haematologic malignancies' by generating CAR-T cells directly inside the body which minimises the risk of potentially toxic pre-conditioning chemotherapy. Cool!
-Ajax Therapeutics:
Rabbit hole: How many of you have heard of a cytokine storm? With the pandemic and whatnot, I hope you have, but let me explain. In a last attempt to turn the tide when all seems lost, i.e when the first and second line of defence of the body are breached by the pathogen, the immune system launches a cytokine storm, which causes the immune system to launch all its weapons AT ONCE. This leaves behind tons of damage. At this point, the chances of you dying are very high.
OOOK. Anyway, hormones vs cytokines... spot the differences and similarities? I puzzled myself with this one. Basically:
- Cytokines and hormones are protein.
- They both are chemical messengers and are involved in cell communication which travel through blood.
- they both bind with receptors.
This table I found on the website link below² sums up the differences accurately.
Ajax has the focus on haematological malignancies (seems to be a hot topic). Many modern therapies often interact with other proteins leading to unwanted side effects. Combining computational chemistry and structural biology, they seek to create therapies for significant medical needs by targeting cytokine signalling pathways. Cool!
Visit their sites to know more!
Interius BioTherapeutics
Ajax Therapeutics
---------------------------------*****************----------------------------------
Disclaimer: Information regarding these companies has been sourced from their websites, no copyright infringement intended. Visit their websites to know more.
¹The guys who knew about it, good on you fellas.
² https://www.differencebetween.com/
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