A Year in the Biology Association HOT TOPICS
Car T-cell Therapy: A Living Drug to Cure Cancer? Leukaemia is one of the most common types of cancer amongst children and adolescents, 40 per million were diagnosed in western Europe according to WHO. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell is a form of immunotherapy, otherwise known as adoptive cell transfer. It involves extracting and using the patient’s immune cells to target different cancers. The T cells are isolated from the patient’s blood in a process called “apheresis”(separating a constituent from blood). The cells are then genetically engineered in a laboratory where an inactive virus is inserted into the T- cells. The cells then undergo clonal selection, the T cells are now ready and can recognise antigens on tumour cells. Since the patient’s T cells are used, there is little or no risk of rejection.
is called Yescarta. This is used to treat B cell nonHodgkin lymphomas, a cancer of the lymph nodes. This treatment in my opinion is groundbreaking. It can be used when conventional cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy have failed, both of which are very invasive and significantly reduce patient’s quality of life. Early results have shown that 80% of children and young adults who have received Kymariah have achieved remission.
Hope for Alzheimer’s? A recently approved drug for Alzheimer’s called Aduhelm has recently been approved. This is the first drug that treats the root cause of Alzheimer’s, the beta-amyloid plaques in the brain. According to the phase 3 clinical trials, Aduhelm “consistently and very convincingly reduced the level of amyloid plaques”.
Two main types of treatments have been approved so far. Kymariah is suitable for patients with “Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia” ( Cancer of the bone marrow causing underdeveloped white blood cells). This cancer reduces the patient’s ability to fight off infection, crowds out healthy cells and often spreads to the central nervous system, liver and lymph nodes. The second type
This is a hallmark that paves the way for the treatment of this life-changing disease. This drug was given an accelerated approval pathway to “provide earlier access to potentially valuable therapies for patients with serious diseases where there is an unmet need, and where there is an expectation of clinical benefit despite some residual uncertainty regarding that benefit”(source FDA). Alzheimer’s causes a “cumulative devastation” to patients since they lose their cognitive functioning and memory, greatly affecting their quality of life. A patient with late-stage Alzheimer’s loses the ability to hold a conversation or respond to external stimuli. There is substantial evidence that the reduction in the level of plaque can reduce the severity and potentially treat Alzheimer’s patients.
Long COVID; A lesser-known complication
The benefits for patients often debilitated by Alzheimer’s provided by the drug outweighed the risks associated.
Over two million adults in England are suspected to have had long COVID according to an imperial REACT study. The objective of the series of REACT studies (real-time assessment of community transmission) is to understand how the pandemic is progressing across England. The notion of long COVID is poorly understood by authorities and the public alike. The disease has been shown to cause a range of symptoms from breathlessness to skin rash and brain fog. The study has shown that out of 508,707 participants, 37.7% of individuals with symptomatic COVID-19 had experienced at least one symptom for 12 weeks or more, while 14% had 3 or more symptoms for over 12 weeks. Almost a third of people who had at least one symptom for over 12 weeks reported the symptoms as severe (had a
significant effect on their daily lives). The study will also develop a second programme called REACT GE, which looks for biological “signatures” such as molecules in blood or variations in people’s genes. Researchers will use data collected from 8000 long COVID patients and machine learning to find markers that give people a higher risk of long covid, highlighting new treatment avenues.
References: www.bbc.co.uk & www.fda.gov Written by Rohan
References : www.imperial.ac.uk , spiral.imperial.ac.uk & www.imperial.ac.uk https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/224853/over-million-adultsengland-have-long/ https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/10044/1/89844/2/REACT_ long_covid_paper_FINAL.pdf https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/215193/react-study-expanded-help-better-understand
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57383763 https://www.fda.gov/drugs/news-events-human-drugs/fdas-decisionapprove-new-treatment-alzheimers-disease
Biology Association has chosen Water for Africa as our charity to support As the Biology Association, we came together as a group to choose a charity that we feel fit with our beliefs. Water, as we have learned throughout our A level so far, is essential for the survival of humans and animals. Water has lots of unique features that make it one of the most important molecules on earth. Farming sustainable prevents mass loss of habitats and many other damaging factors that affect our environment. Therefore we aim to raise money and awareness for the charities and their missions. We had planned
to have several fundraisers throughout the year but due to covid, our plans were put on hold. Therefore we decided to focus on raising awareness and have created our summaries about the charities. The Water for Africa charity aims to drill wells of clean water for local people struggling to locate clean water. Unsanitary water can cause countless illnesses which may even lead to death. They hope that a sustained programme of investment will enable communities in Africa
to develop, become self-reliant and so break the cycle of dependency and short term aid. Anyone hoping to get involved can donate via the official website or look at all the great information and resources that they have on their website which can be found at water-for-africa.org. We hope to be able to plan some exciting fundraising events in the future for lots of students to get involved in and learn more about the missions of the charities. Written by Charlotte