Science: "Molecular computers" help to pinpoint cells.

August 21, 2020 /--- -- In a recent study, scientists have developed a way to distinguish cancer cells from neighboring cells that look very similar.
this method provides new ideas for the treatment of precisely targeted cancer cells.
a paper published August 20 in the journal Science, a team of researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle described the design of new nano devices made from synthetic proteins.
only target therapeutic agents to specific cell substations with cell surface markers.
(Photo source: www.pixabay.com) it's worth noting that these "molecular computers" run entirely on their own and can search for programmed-found units.
We are trying to solve the key problem in medicine, which is how to target specific cells in complex environments," said Marc Lajoie, a postdoctoral scholar at the Institute of Protein Design Medicine and lead author of the study.
unfortunately, most cells lack a unique surface marker.
, in order to improve cell targeting, we have created a way to direct almost any biological function to any cell by tracking the combination of cell surface markers.
"they created a tool called Co-LOCKR, which is a key protein associated with co-location.
it is made up of a variety of synthetic proteins, and when independently present, these markers do not have the significance of marking.
, when these fragments gather on the surface of the target cell, they change shape, activating specific molecular markers.
presence of these markers on the surface of cells can target specific cell types.
have shown that Co-LOCKR can focus on the lethal activity of CAR T cells.
in the lab, they mixed Co-LOCKR proteins, CAR T cells, and a large number of potential target cells.
some of them have only one tag, while others have only two or three.
results show that only cells with a predetermined marker combination can be killed by T cells.
T cells are extremely effective killers, so we can limit their activity with cells with the wrong combination of antigens, but we can still quickly eliminate cells with the right combination," said Alexander Salter, another lead author of the study.
strategy of targeting cells is entirely dependent on proteins.
this approach distinguishes it from most other methods that rely on engineering units and run on a slower time scale.
(bioon.com) Source: New 'molecular computer' find the right cells Source: M.J. Lajoie el al., "Designed protein logic to target cells with precise combinations of surface antigens," Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi ... 1126/science.aba6527.