UCLA Researchers Discover Cancer Cells in Living Mice Using Deactivated HIV Virus
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P-Glycoprotein Causes Resistance to Cancer Treatments |
Professor Irvin Chen, a member of the research team, explained that transforming HIV into a tool for detecting cancer cells consists of two phases. First, they employed a version of HIV from which the elements causing AIDS have been separated. This allows the virus to infiltrate cells and spread throughout the body without causing AIDS. In this state, the harmless HIV serves as a carrier for therapeutic agents to targeted sites in the body, such as the liver and lungs, where cancer tumors often metastasize.
The next step involves stripping the outer surface of the HIV and replacing it with the outer shell of the Sindbis virus, which typically affects birds and insects. Subsequently, the scientists reprogrammed HIV to infect selected functional cells and attach to P-glycoprotein—a surface molecule found on most cancer cells.
This groundbreaking work marks the first instance globally of developing a method to transform HIV into a search and binding tool for P-Glycoprotein. P-Glycoprotein is responsible for the resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy. It plays a role in neutralizing all treatment drugs and expelling them from cancer cells, preventing the therapeutic effects of these medications. Consequently, cancer cells continue to proliferate uncontrollably.
The “detective” HIV is injected into the tail vein of the mice and tracked using a special mini-optical camera. The “detective” navigates through the bloodstream to localize at the cancer cells in the lungs, where the tumor has metastasized. To monitor the journey of HIV, the researchers attached a luminescent protein derived from fireflies. When the mice are placed under the camera, the glowing cancer cells can be identified through bones, muscles, and fur.
This method is painless and does not harm the animals; it demonstrates that it is possible to reprogram a pathogen into a harmless and effective tool, moving towards binding with specific cells as treatment targets within the body. Most importantly, there is a need to further refine the gene modification technology on HIV to ensure that the carrier is completely safe and suitable for human gene therapy trials.
