(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Researchers and doctors have been working hard to find new and improved cancer therapies, and it seems that they may be closer to discovering a cure. A Japanese study has been able to produce cancer-specific immune cells, also known as killer T lymphocytes, which could be used to help patients.

 

The study changed killer T cells from a certain type of skin cancer into iPS cells, which can then generate cancer specific killer T lymphocytes. 

 

Researchers also found that the new cells could also make interferon, an anti-tumor compound. 

 

The change into iPS cells was done through exposing the T cells to compounds that cause them to revert back to a non-specialized stage, making it easy for researchers to push them into producing the new T lymphocytes. 

 

Killer T cells created in this study will help forward cancer research, especially because these cells could be used to treat patients. 

 

“The next step will be to test whether these T cells can selectively kill tumor cells but not other cells in the body. If they do, these cells might be directly injected into patients for therapy,” lead researcher Hiroshi Kawamoto from the RIKEN Center for Allergy and Immunology was quoted as saying. 

 

Even better news is that using these cells as cancer therapy could be right around the corner. 

 

“This could be realized in the not-so-distant future,” Kawamoto was quoted as saying. 

 

Source: Cell Stem Cell, January 2013

 

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