Recently, an article in the British Journal of Haematology surprised many people. The article pointed out that a patient with advanced Hodgkin's lymphoma was unfortunately infected with new coronary pneumonia. After 11 days in the hospital, his symptoms were relieved and he was discharged to recuperate at home. Amazingly, after four months, the PET/CT review found that most of the tumors in his body had disappeared , and the level of biomarkers related to tumors also decreased by more than 90% [1]. How is this going?
At present, researchers have not confirmed the cause of the disappearance of the tumor, but the current mainstream guess is that the infection of new coronavirus , accidental activates the anti-tumor immune response in the patient, through immune factors and various immune cells , not only kills When the virus died, the cancer cells were also killed by the way.
Source: Reference [1]
This case reminds us that human immune cells have great potential in fighting tumors and viral infections. The role of
immune cells in the human body
immune cells are like guards, they are of different types, and each cell has its own unique means of destroying the enemy. immune cells include T cells, dendritic cells, macrophages, Granulocytes, mast cells, etc., they form an immune guard army to protect human health all night long.
role one: foreign defense. is to defend against foreign pathogens and prevent the human body from being infected with various diseases (bacterial diseases, viral diseases and other microbial diseases)
, for example, Zhang Boli, a member of the expert group, once pointed out: In fact, we have the disease of new coronary pneumonia, which is a game between the virus and the human body. As a result of the struggle, the virus often wins and gets sick. If improves immunity, it is often not easy to be infected. Even is relatively mildly infected, [2].
Role 2: Maintain its own stability . Cells in the human body are constantly renewing, and a large number of damaged or dead cells will appear over time. Immune cells can recognize these cells in time and remove them from the human body, thereby maintaining the body's own health.
For example, researchers from the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine in the United States discovered that special immune cells in the brain— microglia (a type of immune cell) can swallow and damage the remnants of neurons and , which can prevent The damage spreads to neighboring normal neurons, thereby avoiding more serious neurodegeneration [3].
source reference materials [3]
role 3: immune surveillance. Immune surveillance plays a very important role in the human body's anti-tumor aspect. Immune cells will monitor some cells that have mutations, identify them and eliminate them in time.
Wang Yingyi, a medical oncologist at Peking Union Medical College Hospital , said in a public welfare lecture on “Cancer Prevention Talk”: “The human body produces cancer cells every day, but not everyone will get cancer, because has Immune cells in the body defeat these cancer cells. ”[4]
Immune cell therapy: a new hope for cancer cure
In recent years, scientists have discovered that immune cells can be used for treatment in addition to protecting human health. A variety of clinical diseases, this is the immune cell therapy we often hear. Immune cell therapy is the collection of human body's own immune cells. After in vitro culture, the number of immune cells is greatly increased, with stronger targeting, which can more effectively kill pathogens and cancer cells in tissues, and activate and enhance the body's immune ability.
In 2015, Linhua was diagnosed with lymphatic leukemia . In order to treat the disease, Linhua received a second chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, but unfortunately, these several treatments failed to help Linhua cure the disease. Just when Linhua's family felt hopeless. The blood stems of the hospitalGood news came from the Center for Cells. The experts decided to use internationally advanced CAR-T cells to treat Linhua. Then the doctor injected Linhua with CAR-T cells. A few days later, the cancer cells in Linhua disappeared miraculously.
49-year-old Judy Perkins unfortunately suffered from breast cancer. He also had a tennis-sized tumor on his liver, and there were multiple secondary cancers all over his body. In view of the seriousness of the disease, there was no way to treat it by conventional methods, so the doctor predicted She can only live a maximum of 3 months. Fortunately, Judy Perkins has also undergone clinical trials of immunotherapy. Dr.
found tumor-infiltrating immune cells in her tumor. After isolating these immune cells, the scientists decided to expand them in large quantities and then infuse them back into the patient.
A week later, Judy Perkins felt a noticeable change in his body. For example, the tumor on her chest felt gradually shrinking. After another week or two, the tumor in the chest cavity of completely disappeared [5].
The yellow arrow on the left is the location of the tumor before treatment; the right is the re-examination after 14 months after the treatment: the tumor disappeared completely
Summary
We live in a world full of bacteria and viruses every moment of our body. Under their attack, most people can live a healthy life. This is because the immune cells in the human body are playing a protective role. At the same time, the immune cells are also used by medical scientists to treat a variety of clinical diseases and bring patients The hope of healing.
But like the human body, immune cells will age and become weak, and aging immune cells will not be able to protect the body normally, and diseases will soon come to the door [6]. As ordinary people, we need to take precautionary work. When we are young and healthy, we should store the seeds of immune cells full of vitality in advance, and inject immune cells back into the body when necessary, and help us resist under the conditions Aging and improving immunity can help us fight cancer and other diseases in case of emergency.
[1] Challenor and Tucker (2021). SARS‐CoV‐2‐induced remission of Hodgkin lymphoma. BJ Haem, https://doi.org/10.1111/bjh.17116.[2]https://m.weibo .cn/1926909715/4468029616391742
[3]Norris et al.Neuronal integrity and complement control synaptic material clearance by microglia after CNS injury. J. Exp. Med.2018. DOI: 10.1084/jem.20172244
[4]https://health .gmw.cn/2019-09/09/content_33141255.htm
[5]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-018-0040-8
[6]PNAS(doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1714478115 ) Z3z
