Turning Leukemia Cells on themselves: Mission Accomplished

 What are Leukemia Cells?

Leukemia is by definition a malignant progressive disease in which the bone marrow and other blood-forming organs produce increased numbers of immature or abnormal leukocytes. These suppress the production of normal blood cells, leading to anemia and other symptoms. This disease is very difficult to treat because the leukemia cells (which are cancer cells) affect the bone marrow and the RBCs have the tendency to relapse and resist treatment.

Cancer Research (Introduction) :

A major goal in cancer research is to discover agents that transform malignant cells into benign cells. The process in which researchers and scientists approach cancer therapy involves finding agents that have the ability to change the state of differentiation of cancer cells. In a recently discovered phenomenon 'receptor pleiotropism' conversion of acute myeloblastic leukemia cells into natural killer cells is very possible. (Receptor Pleiotropism is when agonist antibodies are against known receptors which induce the cell fates that are very different from those that are induced by the natural agonist to the same receptor.) (A)

In a recent new study, performed by scientists of the Scripps Research Institute, discovered an extremely rare human antibody that makes leukemia cells kill each other. The leukemia cells are convinced to transform into leukemia-killing immune cells, in which their biological programming has been rewritten. Antibody therapies has long been the main goal of many scientists as they have been trying to treat individuals whose bone marrow does not produce enough WBCs (aka: immune cell deficiency). Finding antibodies that could activate receptors on the immature bone marrow cells that would cause them to change into mature cells was the mission. (B)

When introduced to the antibody the leukemia cells enter a differentiation cascade where 80% of the starting leukemic cells can be differentiated. The antibody-induced killer cells make large amounts of perforin, IFN-γ, and granzyme B which attack, subsequently killing other members of the leukemic cell population. (A) It is important to note that induction of killer cells is confined to transformed cells because the normal bone marrow cells are not induced to form killer cells. It is therefore very possible to use agonist antibodies to change the differentiation state of cancer cells into those that attack and kill other members of malignant clone from which they originate. (A)

Those who suffered from AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) produce too many WBCs in their bone marrow interfering with the normal production of other blood cell types. This aggressive type of leukemia attacks the myeloid cells in the body that deal with bacterial infections, parasites, and prevent the spread of tissue damage. (B)

Concluding Results: 

When researchers decided to flood the human blood sample with AML cells (including the growth activating antibodies) the results were astonishing as these very same antibodies transformed the AML cells into dendrite cells. (Dendrite cells support the immune system) With extended exposure to these antibodies, the cells matured further into natural killer cells that behave similarly to cells that kill threats to the human body such as viruses, bacteria, and cancer cells. 

These NK cells destroyed 15% of the cancerous cells in a single day. However, these NK cells only seem to target their former AML cell type, not other types of cancer cells.(B) Future Goals: The finding that agonist antibody converts leukemic cells into killer cells could be the key to treating or even healing patients diagnosed with cancer. Along with the transformation of cancer cells into less aggressive form, cells that have been recently induced have within them a killer phenotype as they kill other unconverted members of the malignant clone. (A) Researchers aim to use this technique that they call the 'Fraticidin Therapy' to transform a range of cancer cells into specific NK cells to cure a cancer patient all together. (B)

Links:
(A) http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/10/20/1519079112
(B)http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/scientists-can-now-make-leukemia-cells-kill-each-other