Bench Press

Part of why I became so interested in science as a kid (apart from watching Bill Nye) was seeing the application of science in medicine. Seeing the development of new medicinal techniques thanks to innovative research made a lasting impression on me. I guess that’s why a level of childhood excitement tends to pop up when I read about things like new imaging technology and future surgical innovations.

A schematic of Dr. King's cancer filtering concept. E-selectin attracts the cancer cells thereby exposing them to TRAIL as they "roll" along the device wall. This triggers the cancer cell's death. Image: Kuldeep Rana

Once again I felt that childhood excitement popping up as I read about a new device being developed by Dr. Michael King and his group at Cornell designed to someday remove cancerous cells from a patient’s bloodstream. King’s device takes advantage of a well studied mechanism of our immune system which is the recruitment of white blood cells to blood vessel walls with adhesion molecules known as selectins. Since selectins recruit cells based on specific carbohydrates Dr. King realized that this adhesive property could be utilized for slowing down cancer cells in order to target and destroy them.

After slowing down the cancer cells to a “roll” the cells can then be exposed to a protein called TRAIL (Tumor Necrosis Factor Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand) resulting in the release and then the apoptotic death of the cancer cells. This makes King’s device more than a simple sieve as he explains, “It’s a little more sophisticated than just filtering the blood, because we’re not just accumulating cancer cells on the surface”.

King’s device is impressive in it’s simplicity and tests of the device’s efficacy appear promising.

King’s research showed that the device can capture and kill about 30 percent of cancer cells flowing past it a single time, with the potential to kill more in the closed-loop system of the body. Used in combination with traditional cancer therapies, King said, the device could remove a significant proportion of metastatic cells, “and give the body a fighting chance to remove the rest of them.”

The team also showed that a system in which the cancer cells “roll” over the target molecules – presenting their entire surface to the molecules – is four times more effective than a static setup in which the cells and proteins make contact at a single point.

Of course as excited as I am to see this type of work being done, as Dr. King points out moving his concept to the clinic may take many years. I’m looking forward to reading the paper in Biotechnology and Bioengineering and seeing what others will come up with from Dr. King’s work.