Chapter 1318: Chapter 997_2 Chapter 1318: Chapter 997_2 The conference started on ti, and those seated were all influencers, so invited from partner universities, others from our own, and included two international attendees, making the session quite formal. Although there were elents of personal relationships, they were minimal.
“Let first introduce the basics of this topic—” Guan Ruyan knew the importance of this conference, and having an assistant present it would clearly show a lack of respect, so he took charge personally, with Lu Xiaolu prepared to assist if necessary.
Since the topic was entirely designed by Lu Xiaolu, including the ideas and details, and he even wrote the final project proposal, Guan Ruyan had been very busy recently, attending nurous academic conferences and dealing with his son’s matters, so he had only beco familiar with the topic recently. Given that the experts present might beco critically scrutinizing, Lu Xiaolu could step in to assist during crucial monts.
“T cells, isolated from white blood cells and incorporated with a specific chiric antigen receptor gene, are modified into the desired CAR T cells. These are then cultivated and multiplied in the laboratory, waiting to be transford into warriors that can identify and kill cancer cells. At this point, we reintroduce them into the human bloodstream to reach the target tumor through blood circulation, where these special warrior cells recognize and kill tumor cells. This is the common practice of CAR T cell therapy for tumors worldwide.”
“CAR-T therapy, as a revolutionary tumor treatnt thod using genetic engineering to alter the body’s own immune cells, has brought new hope to nurous patients with hematological cancers. However, there are still unavoidable issues—CAR-T cells cannot treat solid tumors, as solid tumors lack the binding antigens found in blood tumors, preventing CAR-T cells from recognizing and targeting solid tumor cells.”
“Our topic addresses this issue—using a special kind of CAR-T cells to treat solid tumors, which, if successful, would be a significant breakthrough.”
After Guan Ruyan briefly introduced the topic, the room erupted in enthusiastic applause. It had to be acknowledged; this topic pinpointed the pain points of CAR-T therapy. Many pharmaceutical companies implenting CAR-T therapy were investing heavily in research, but no significant breakthroughs had been made yet. Guan Ruyan’s topic approached the pain points of CAR-T therapy from a novel angle, which, if successful, could expand the indications for CAR-T therapy treatnts, benefitting both patients and pharmaceutical companies.
“Professor Guan, in your use of CAR-T therapy to treat solid tumors, could you reveal the specific thods of implentation? We know that currently, CAR-T cells are limited to the treatnt of blood-related tumors because, as a cell type, they can only be transported via the bloodstream. This is mainly because most solid tumors lack antigens that bind with CAR-T cells, thus they cannot be recognized and eliminated.”
“Although neoantigens, a class of HLA-binding peptides produced by tumor-specific mutations, exhibit high immunogenicity because they are not found in normal tissues, thus avoiding central thymic tolerance, they are not suitable for a large number of patients.
“Moreover, even after selecting the best antigen targets, the functionality of CAR-T depends on factors such as its ability to prevent tumor immune escape of antigenic sites, aning there is still a possibility of tumor escape. These factors are the reasons why this therapy performs poorly in treating solid tumors.”
“Do you think when CAR-T cells are combined with targeted drugs, CAR-T cells targeted towards persistent cells expressing specific surface proteins can more effectively delay the ergence of complete resistance”
The series of questions were from Professor Shen Xuebin from Beijing, a professor who returned from studying abroad and was part of the Thousand Talents Plan. He was very optimistic about this project and had long admired Guan Ruyan’s talents. This was a perfect opportunity for him to communicate directly with Guan Ruyan.
“Our approach is to modify the neoantigens to be recognizable by most patients with a certain type of solid tumor, thus broadening the application scope.” Guan Ruyan answered with a smile before taking a sip of water.
“What I an is how you achieve this modification, what tools you use for antigen modification, as I believe there are no tools currently capable of this. What unique insights do you have regarding the application of modification tools? Secondly, how do you avoid the controllability of new tools in modification, to prevent so adverse reactions from becoming uncontrolled?”
Indeed, Guan Ruyan had not researched the modification tools carefully; this had always been Lu Xiaolu’s responsibility. He took another sip of water and cleared his throat, “I apologize, I’ve been a bit under the weather these past few days, my throat isn’t very good. Xiao Lu, could you please introduce the details of the modification tools to everyone?”
In fact, at such conferences, few people really get serious about grabbing onto these details and insisting on questioning everything. Everyone is from the sa circle, where it is better to forgive where forgiveness is due. What if, next ti, soone else raised equally sharp questions when it was their turn? However, Professor Shen was upright, he had a significant interest in this topic, and he held many doubts. Today’s rare opportunity for direct communication naturally made him want to clarify things, and he had no intention of embarrassing Guan Ruyan.
Lu Xiaolu imdiately took over the conversation, “Professor Shen asked a great question. Our modification tool is a brand-new type of tool, tailor-made for this project,”
Professor Shen nodded in satisfaction. He had not guessed wrong; the other party had indeed adopted a brand-new modification tool. However, the concept behind the tool surprised him; he wondered why he had never thought of it before.
“A professor from Heidelberg University in Germany had proposed this idea before, but it was never realized, right?” Professor Shen had extensive knowledge.
Lu Xiaolu quickly replied, “That was my doctoral ntor. I continued researching along his lines of thinking, oh, Professor Guan guided to continue along his lines, and we finally succeeded this year, hence launching the current project.”
Lu Xiaolu realized he was about to overstep, so he handed the initiative back to Guan Ruyan, “If Professor Guan were not feeling under the weather today, his explanation of the modification tool would be far more profound. My understanding of the tool is far inferior to Professor Guan’s.”
Guan Ruyan was very satisfied with Lu Xiaolu’s performance; this guy was smart and always managed to assist him beautifully. Afterwards, Guan Ruyan added so flowery language, essentially summarizing Lu Xiaolu’s speech.
“Professor Guan, I feel a bit uncomfortable in my stomach. I need to step out for a bit, no more than ten minutes,” Lu Xiaolu suddenly felt unwell and took a temporary “leave” from Guan Ruyan.
Guan Ruyan imdiately nodded his approval. Such requests had to be granted. It was not possible to make him hold it in at such a mont.
“Your new modification tool is very ingenious. I am curious, how does the modified antigen achieve lasting effectiveness at the binding site? It is known that your type of new antigens share a common characteristic: they lack binding duration. How did Professor Guan resolve this?”
An English-speaking professor from the United States, who was curious about another issue, raised the question in English.
“In our previous research, we discovered a new type of expression protein that aids in the durability of binding. Thus, in this experint, we simulated the chanism of tumor cells releasing this expression protein. When new CAR-T cells and new antigens bind, it releases this kind of expression protein, thus ensuring the durability of the binding,”
“We have also researched this expression protein, but it lacks universality; it often fails to express in many scenarios. How did you address the issue of expression failure? I an, how do you precisely and sensitively determine the scenarios and timing of expression recognition, and once expression is initiated, how do you ensure the expression is fully realized?”
This question was probably complex to answer; Guan Ruyan had had no ti to thoroughly explore it, as it wasn’t a superficial issue and involved the application of many cutting-edge technologies currently at the forefront.
“This issue is very complex, involving the application of many leading-edge technologies. If we are to discuss it in detail, it would require a lot of ti. Could we do this? I’ll explain it to you in detail after the session.” Guan Ruyan glanced around, wondering why Lu Xiaolu hadn’t returned yet.
User Comments
0 comments from readers