Who moved the "antibone" of the cancer cells? Twins unravel 'blood mystery'

in the 1980s, when the Japanese TV series "Blood Suspect" became popular in China, the scene of a beautiful girl with leukemia, Yukio(
Yamaguchi) finally lying in her husband's arms, left countless viewers in tearsMore than 20 years have passed, and there is hope for a cure for leukaemia, which was considered an incurable diseaseA recent paper published in the American journal Science(
Chinese scientist Hong Dengli as the first author) announced the successful separation of "pre-leukemia stem cells" from a pair of twin sisters, The Independent reported on January 18This major discovery will have a revolutionary impact on the treatment of leukemia and other cancersThe twin sisters Olivia Murphy and Isabella Murphy, of Bromley, Kent, will have an equally happy childhood if the cancer-busting "grandmother"the disease, if not the abominablediseaseBut Olivia suddenly fell ill when she was two years old, and a blood test by doctors showed she was suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and Isabella had beenhealthyLeukemia is the most commonchildhoodcancer in the UK, accounting for 1
/
of allchildrencancer, including acute lymphoblastic leukemiaBecause the sisters are identical twins, congenital genes and the day after life are almost identical, should have "enjoy the same, have difficulties", but the fate is very different, in the dark there seems to be a pair of invisible hands in the manipulation of their fateWhat is the cause of the blame? Genetic tests on the sisters showed that they had a genetic mutation at birth, and Olivia later underwent a second genetic mutation that left leukaemia in its original form, and Isabella's genes never underwent a mutationWhat exactly is the gene site mutated? Where do leukemia cells come from? These questions are waiting for scientists to answerThe scientists analyzed the blood of the sisters and made the surprising discoveryFor the first time, they found an unusual group of early-stage "pre-leukemia stem cells" that existed in both sisters, and studies have shown that leukemia stem cells developed from "pre-leukemia stem cells." The scientists analyzed the extracted cells and finally figured out the entire mutation processThey found that both girls had pre-leukemia cells in their blood, a small number of stem cells, and that one of the lowest-sized cells was named "pre-leukemia stem cell", a variant of which is made from the translocation of two genesThe mutation occurs in one of the girls' cellsAt the time, they were still in the mother's body, unable to determine who the mutation had actually occurred toBut because the sisters shared a placenta, the mutant cells were spread into the blood of the twoSince Isabella was not sick, the researchers determined that the genetic translocation apparently did not cause leukemia on her ownOne in 100 children has a genetic translocation, but about 1 percent of children with genetic translocation develop cancer, the Times of London reportedAs many people know, stem cells are the "mothers of life" that can differentiate into cells with specific functions, from which all the tissue cells of the human body come from Scientists have long believed that leukemia stem cells are the "mother of leukemia" However, the discovery upends the conventional wisdom that "pre-leukemia stem cells" are the real source of blood cancer cells, which can be called the "grandmother" of leukemia At present, the drug used to treat leukemia can only kill most of the blood cancer cells, but it cannot remove leukemia stem cells, let alone the former leukemia stem cells, which is the reason why leukemia is prone to recurrence Who moved the "antibone" of the cancer cells? As anyone with a little knowledge of biology knows, the chances of a genetic mutation occurring are very small, and there are fewer cases of mutations at the same gene site in a row, such as Olivia." The twin sisters turned 5 in 22 and are thankful lying through radiotherapy and chemotherapy and are recovering But chemotherapy also severely damaged her immunity, blinding one of her eyes from an infection and becoming significantly slower than Isabella's A team of experts, including Chinese scientist Hong , Professor Mel Grievous of the Sutton Cancer Institute in the UK, and Professor Taric Enfer of the Institute of Molecular Medicine, part of oxford's Medical Research Council, have finally identified the distribution of the "grandmother" of blood cancer and determined the treatment plan Hong Dengli, a native of Huangshi City, Hubei Province, has been working on the regulation and treatment of genetically modified at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan , and has worked at the Institute of Molecular Medicine of Oxford University 2003 to study the role of TEL-AML1, the disease-causing gene in childhood leukemia, in hematopoietic stem cells Hong Denli was the lead researcher on the study, which involved 11 scientists from , Japan and Italy They now use a combination of therapies , kill most of Olivia's ex-leukemia stem cells As for Isabella's , researchers estimate
that her chances of developing cancer are less than 1 /
10 , and that all white blood cell stem cells in her body should die naturally the age of 14 Sasha, the mother of the twin sisters, is most concerned about , what exactly makes Olivia's cancer "grandmother" start to do evil? Because it is important to prevent the same tragedy in Isabella Scientists have now concluded that the mutation may have started in a single cell, due to an infection Since the first genetic mutation, the "antibone" of the former leukemia stem cell has been formed Just no", "grandmother" has been afraid to act But the fact that it happened to Olivia suggests that a particular disturbance can unlock the shackles that prevent cancer cells from developing So who really got angry with "Grandma"? The scientists asked their mother, Sasha, about some possible carcinogens Since neither Sasha nor her husband had a similar genetic mutation, the twin sisters' growing environment and lifestyle may have been carcinogenic Sasha, for example, still occasionally smokes during pregnancy and works in front of a computer with high levels of radiation, Isabella is quieter after the birth of the two sisters, and the dynamic Olivia is exposed to some of the more volatile paint, all of which can trigger the nerves of "grandmother" anger Gene therapy, or cancer", , now that the culprits for leukemia have been found, can scientists come up with new treatments to prevent a repeat of the "blood-thirsty" tragedy? The existing treatment for leukemia is mainly chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but these two therapies kill cancer cells at the same time, but also harm normal cells in the body, side effects are large and easy to recur, "cure" is simply impossible to talk about About 1 to 2
percent of children with leukemia die from chemotherapy each year, according to the Times And based on current treatment experience, blood cancer "grandmothers" who have undergone countless radiotherapy and chemotherapy are equally difficult to deal with What do we do? Scientists think of gene therapy Gene therapy is the purpose of implanting normal genes into selected cells to replace genetically defective genes in a patient's cells, or by shutting down , inhibiting abnormally performing genes Since researchers have identified the sequence and location of the two genetic mutations, this laid the groundwork for the new treatment Olivia and Isabella underwent a genetic mutation when they developed in their mother's womb, and their specific chromosomal fractures formed the TEL-AML1 gene At this time, their genetic arrangement became only one step away from leukemia "quasi-death sequence", the two of them in the body of the "pre-leukemia stem cells" from this Olivia suffered from leukemia when she suffered another genetic mutation when she was two years old, losing her normal TEL gene And the doom didn't fall on Isabella, who is still very healthy According to Professor Grievous, they are considering a "gene-silencing" therapy This therapy inhibits abnormal manifestations of genes in stem cells by manipulating a highly specific gene expression small molecule miRNA 2
2007, researchers at the Watson Institute of Biological Sciences and other research units at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, New York, successfully screened and inhibited stem cell-like cells in mouse breast tissue by manipulating miRNA And now scientists are hoping to block the expression of the TEL-AML1 gene through this small molecule that changes the code of life, preventing leukemia from occurring at the source In Schwarzenegger's famous sci-fi film Terminator 1, the computer system Skynet sends robots across time and space to kill the mother of a future human leader in order to defeat humans And with the theoretical weapon of "pre-cancer stem cells", scientists can die as long as they are in the "grandmother" phase of cancer, and patients will have no worries Grievous also said that other malignant tumors
such as lung cancer, liver cancer , breast cancer, are likely to go through the early stage of stem cell differentiation, so the development of drugs to fight cancer "grandmother" is very significant (
Chichi)