A team of scientists led by Professor Horishi Kawamato from Kyoto University has just announced the launch of a pre-clinical study to develop leukaemia treatment using iPS cells.
The team wants to perfect immune system cells derived from iPS cells which, in turn, are obtained from patients’ immune cells, namely the “T Killer” cells. These cells will then be injected into patients to “attack” the cancer cells.
This technique is interesting because the cells differentiated from iPS cells can memorise cancer cell markers and thus implement a specific “plan of attack”.
If the method is validated by the pre-clinical tests to be conducted in 2016 and 2017, a clinical trial could be initiated in 2019.
The Japan News (11/01/2016)