Hosted by Dr. Oliver Medvedik, Journal Club returns on Tuesday 25th January at 12:00 Eastern and will be broadcast live on the Lifespan.io Facebook page. The topic for this month is the paper ‘CAR T cells produced in vivo to treat cardiac injury‘, which looks at how researchers created CAR T cells to target scar tissue in the heart. Being able to remove fibrotic tissue from the heart could help the heart to heal properly following an injury.
Making CAR T cells in vivo
Cardiac fibrosis is the stiffening and scarring of heart tissue and can be fatal. Rurik et al. designed an immunotherapy strategy to generate transient chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells that can recognize the fibrotic cells in the heart (see the Perspective by Gao and Chen). By injecting CD5-targeted lipid nanoparticles containing the messenger RNA (mRNA) instructions needed to reprogram T lymphocytes, the researchers were able to generate therapeutic CAR T cells entirely inside the body. Analysis of a mouse model of heart disease revealed that the approach was successful in reducing fibrosis and restoring cardiac function. The ability to produce CAR T cells in vivo using modified mRNA may have a number of therapeutic applications. —PNK
Literature
Rurik, J. G., Tombácz, I., Yadegari, A., Méndez Fernández, P. O., Shewale, S. V., Li, L., … & Epstein, J. A. (2022). CAR T cells produced in vivo to treat cardiac injury. Science, 375(6576), 91-96.
Steve serves on the LEAF Board of Directors and is the Editor in Chief, coordinating the daily news articles and social media content of the organization. He is an active journalist in the aging research and biotechnology field and has to date written over 600 articles on the topic, interviewed over 100 of the leading researchers in the field, hosted livestream events focused on aging, as well as attending various medical industry conferences.
His work has been featured in H+ magazine, Psychology Today, Singularity Weblog, Standpoint Magazine, Swiss Monthly, Keep me Prime, and New Economy Magazine.
Steve is one of three recipients of the 2020 H+ Innovator Award and shares this honour with Mirko Ranieri – Google AR and Dinorah Delfin – Immortalists Magazine. The H+ Innovator Award looks into our community and acknowledges ideas and projects that encourage social change, achieve scientific accomplishments, technological advances, philosophical and intellectual visions, author unique narratives, build fascinating artistic ventures, and develop products that bridge gaps and help us to achieve transhumanist goals.
Steve has a background in project management and administration which has helped him to build a united team for effective fundraising and content creation, while his additional knowledge of biology and statistical data analysis allows him to carefully assess and coordinate the scientific groups involved in the project.
