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Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles have come up with a device that may one day be an alternative to chemotherapy for treating cancer. Genia Dulot has the report
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((PLAYBOOK SLUG: LogOn Cancer Fighting Device
HEADLINE: LogOn: Scientists Develop Device Stimulating Immune Response to Fight Cancer
TEASER: One day the spongelike device may replace chemotherapy to treat cancers, researchers say
PUBLISHED AT: 07/18/2023 at 10:15am
BYLINE: Genia Dulot
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Los Angeles, California
VIDEOGRAPHER: Genia Dulot
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Michelle Quinn, Reifenrath
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO _X_
TRT: 1:59
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO:))
[[Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles have come up with a device that may one day be an alternative to chemotherapy for treating cancer. Genia Dulot has the report.]]
((NARRATOR))
When she was pursuing her education, bioengineer Negin Majedi ((SAID: Neh-gin Modjee-di)) became convinced that advances in immunotherapy would one day allow doctors to treat cancer effectively.
((Negin Majedi, SymphNode Co-Inventor))
“You could actually recruit the body’s immune cells and work on the body’s natural capability of being able to clear the tumor, in order to get rid of the cancer cells, so that was super exciting for me.”
((NARRATOR))
Iranian-born Majedi and her bioengineer husband, Mahdi Hasani, are now part of an interdisciplinary team of medical and engineering researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles. The group has developed SymphNode, a tiny biodegradable spongelike device about the size of a pencil eraser.
Made of a polymer called alginate, the device is implanted or injected into a tumor. From there, it releases a drug that generates a better immune response than the body can do on its own, according to the researchers.
[[For Radio: Mahdi Hasani, co-inventor of SymphNode]]
((Mahdi Hasani, SymphNode Co-Inventor))
“It’s like a local training gym. It would bring the cells and then train them so when they are leaving the device, they are so ready to go and fight the local tumor.”
((NARRATOR)) The idea, says UCLA immunology Professor Manish Butte, who mentored Majedi during her research, is to block the “regulatory” T-cells that police cancer-fighting “killer” T-cells.
((Manish Butte, UCLA Immunology Professor))
“This really opens up an avenue for having the immune system attack all kinds of cancers, not just breast cancers, but every kind of solid tumor.”
((NARRATOR))
SymphNode has been tested on mice with breast cancer, showing tumors shrinking in 80% of mice and preventing the spread of cancer in 100% of them.
The researchers hope to launch clinical trials in 2024, aiming to make the technology available for treating cancers in humans as soon as possible.
((Genia Dulot, for VOA News, Los Angeles))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateJuly 18, 2023 10:33 EDT
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
