'Super' enzyme may lead way to better tumor vaccines
Date: 19.12.2006
A "super" form of the enzyme Akt1 could provide the key to boosting the effect of tumor vaccines by extending the lives of dendritic cells, the immune-system master switches that promote the response of T-cells, which attack tumors, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears in the "advance online publication" section of the current issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.
"By keeping the dendritic cells alive longer, you extend the window of activation, promoting the desirable immune response, which in the case of cancer, is the expansion of T-cells," said Dr. David Spencer, associate professor of immunology at BCM. "The longer your dendritic cells are alive and active, the more likely you are to expand the appropriate T-helper repertoire and ultimately the desirable cytotoxic (cell killing) T-lymphocytes."...
"www.bcm.edu":[ http://www.bcm.edu/news/item.cfm?newsID=770]
"Nature Biotechlogy - full text":[ http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt1262.html]
Related articles
Viral Enzyme Recruited in Fight Against Ear Infection - Parents might one day give their children a weekly treatment with a nasal spray of virus enzymes to prevent them from getting a severe middle ear infection, based on results of a study done in mice by investigators from St (26.3.2007)
Scientists look at precancerous cells - Researchers in Boston have identified how a missing protein causes tissue to become precancerous, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced (19.3.2007)
Researchers Identify Ovarian Cancer Biomarkers - Researchers have identified markers unique to the cells of blood vessels running through ovarian tumors (12.3.2007)
