Girl's own immune system engineered to fight leukemia

Cancer free thanks to a new Immunotherapy for Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Emily's story.

9-year-old Emily Whitehead is the first girl to be cured, as of 2012, of a highly aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) via a novel form of immunotherapy against leukemias. The girl did not respond successfully to chemotherapy before she entered as the first patient of a new trial by study leader Stephan A. Grupp, M.D., Ph.D., a pediatric oncologist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. What the team did was to bioengineer T cells to work not against pathogens, viruses, bacteria etc. but to recognize and kill the leukemia cells that normally evade regular T cell surveillance. 

What is a T cell?
T-cells are a type of white blood cell that circulate around our bodies, scanning for cellular abnormalities and infections.

Adding a receptor on T-cells allow them to recognize the
target cell - in this case the cancer cell - and kill it.
Our immune system often struggles to recognize cancer cells
as foreign, because the cancer cell is actually very similar to
many other cells in our body. 

Researchers first extracted the patient's own T cells and added a receptor to them that specifically recognize an antigen, an antenna that specifically marked these cancer cells. Once the T cell receptor binds to the cancer cell antigen, the T cell is able to kill the cancer cell as effectively as our immune system kills many viruses and bacteria. This is a powerful method to utilize patient's own arsenal in their immune system against cancer. 

 This past July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration designated the so called CTL019 approach as a Breakthrough Therapy, helping to expedite its progress into broader clinical trials. While it's very early days, the future looks promising for such therapies. Source of the news can be found here.

Giving Tuesday 2014

Dear kNOW-SCIENCE Supporters,

Did you know that giving money to a worthwhile cause can make you happier?

Make kNow-Science your worthwhile cause this year.

As 2014 draws to a close, we can look back on a successful year of kNow-Science growth. A great series of talks at Genspace, The birth of kNow-Science Kids and an active Mythbusters Blog dispelling, or confirming, those old wives tales. To all who have attended talks and events have helped keep us going with your enthusiasm, support and smiles, we thank you and look forward to seeing you again in the future.

We rely on volunteers and also your generosity to keep growing and developing on the path we have thus far travelled.

So why not take the opportunity and show your support of kNow-Science with a donation, and help us continue to bring you the knowledge you didn't know you needed.

Are e-cigarettes harmless?

Are e-cigarettes harmless?

E-cigarettes, this unknown.  

Using our Ask the Expert form, Matthew Guidetti asked KNow Science about e-cigarettes. 

Are they healthy or not? 

                 Are they worse or better than normal cigarettes? 

                                                                       What are their side effects?

Astonishingly, scientists have published more than 300 scientific papers on e-cigarettes since 2009. Probably right after the first e-cigarette set foot on the market, when it was just a niche habit or an alternative to cigarettes for the elite, scientists all over the globe were already busy experimenting with e-cigarettes ⁱ.  Data ranges from their modes of action, how routes of administration change their effects and whether they are ultimately safer than conventional cigarettes.

Why has all this science not reached the public? Why are people still uncertain about e-cigarettes when we [scientists[ know so much? 

kNow-Science put two of our scientists, cancer expert Dr. Simona Giunta and brain biologist Dr. Ilaria Ceglia on the task of extracting comprehensible information from the jungle of published data.

So, what's the consensus? 

Here are three main conclusions. Some are predictable, others definitely worth knowing!

1 – E-cigarettes are a great way to stop smoking.

2 – E-cigarettes are dangerous in a different way to normal cigarettes. While tarmac and other toxic substances are gone, the metal mechanisms in many e-cigarettes produced upon vaporization have been shown to release heavy metals, which you inhale with each puff ^1-2.  A much better choice is all-ceramic e-cigarettes, which do not contain metallic parts, and hence have less risk of releasing heavy metals.

3 – E-cigarettes still have all the side effects of nicotine use. Changes to heart rate and blood pressure and propensity to cause lung cancer are still there ^3-4. Ingesting large quantities of nicotine, whichever the route, is not advisable from a health perspective. 

The benefit of e-cigarettes over conventional cigarettes is that they can facilitate smoking cessation ^5-6.

Lung cancer is the number one killer cancer in the world for both men and women. It accounts for 13% of all new cancers, and a recent, extremely well controlled study showed convincingly that about 90% of lung cancers are due to smoking. [i]ⁱ

Doing the simple math, this means that if the all the smokers quit tomorrow the incidence of cancers overall would decrease by over 10%.

Now that you know the [scientific] truth about e-cigarettes, will you embrace the [scientific] truth about health and change your life accordingly?

Thanks for reading from the kNow-Science team.

---

1.     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25180481

2.     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23526962

3.     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23526962

4.     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24343348

5.     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25303892

6.     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25301815

ⁱ  http://www.ecigalternative.com/ecigarette-studies-research.htm

^i[i] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the U.S. Surgeon General, 2004.

Science Art Work of the Month: November

kNow Science' connection with amazing artists continues with our Winter piece of artwork on display on our website for November and December. 

Sphagnum moss

Close up view of a stained leaf. The 'tile' pattern is made up of hyaline cells; dead cells capable of holding large amounts of water.

Rob Kesseler 2010

Developed in conjunction with the Gulbenkian Science Institute, Portugal

It's a true honor to have London-based artist Rob Kesseler display one of his art pieces for kNow-Science. Rob is the Chair of Arts, Design and Science at the University of the Arts in London and his beautiful pieces follows our October artwork, an HIV (Series2) sculpture from the glass Microbiology series by Luke Jerram.

Are you an artist that finds inspiration in science and the natural world? Submit your entry by emailing us at info@kNow-Science.org. We'd love to hear from you!

7th Annual Imagine Science Film Festival

The Imagine Science Film Festival, 

in partnership with the Rockefeller University Science Communication & Media Group (SciCommAndMedia.rockefeller.edu)

and kNow-Science

presents

 SHORTS: INTIMATE PORTRAITS OF LIFESPAN AND DISEASE

Wednesday, October 22nd

Rockefeller University, Carson Family Auditorium

Reception: 6-7 PM
Program: 7-9 PM Intimate Portraits of Lifespan and Disease - Short Films Screening

Personal monologues dissecting all facets of health from birth to death and the time in between. Narratives range from the fantastical tale of a test subject girl turned into a chimera, to a true account of three New Yorkers and their experiences with lithium and Bipolar. Whether fictional or real, each short illuminates the intricacies and struggles of existence.

For tickets, more events and shorts information, visit:
http://imaginesciencefilms.org/events/shorts-reception-intimate-portraits-of-lifespan-and-disease/

kNow Science joins the Climate March 2014

In a historic day on Sunday for NYC, almost half million people took the streets in a demonstration aimed at ending global inaction on climate change.

Backed by the data collected by scientists around the globe showing evidence for global warming and a worrying increase of CO2 emissions, the march was an incredible success and a fantastic example of science connecting with the people and catalyzing real action and change.

kNow Science scientists and members marched in their lab coats demanding for policy changes to better our environment and preserve our planet.

Do you kNow [the]  Science behind climate change? The debate is over and the science is clear. Read more about it here.

kNOW-SCIENCE talk at Genspace: Cells and Proteins - The Common Origin of Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases

Cells and proteins- the Common Origin of Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's

A Talk by Dr. Sarmistha Ray-Saha

When: Thursday, July 10th 2014, 7pm
Doors open at 6:30pm

Where: Genspace, The MEx Building
33 Flatbush Avenue,
Brooklyn NY 11217

($5 suggested donations at door)

For questions contact us at info@genspace.org

 

 

Join us at Genspace for the third in a series of lectures presented as part of the kNOW SCIENCE outreach program at Rockefeller University. The program delivers public lectures on current biology at a level suitable to a general audience.

Neurodegeneration refers to damage in the brain that impairs mobility, speech and memory in the affected individuals. This talk will delve into the activities inside a working cell and explore the science behind this debilitating condition.

Dr. Ray-Saha is a postdoctoral scientist in the Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Signal Transduction at the Rockefeller University. She is studying the interaction of cell-surface sensors, also called receptor proteins, with other proteins. Her research with protein interactions and crosstalk spans 10+ years and she is also interested in protein-based therapeutic approaches to treat diseases. Aside from her scientific engagements, she volunteers for Uniting Against Lung Cancer, an organization that funds lung cancer research. You can find her on LinkedIn.