Surgery Godfather
Chapter 1318 - 997_2

Chapter 1318: Chapter 997_2

The conference started on time, and those seated were all influencers, some invited from partner universities, others from our own, and included two international attendees, making the session quite formal. Although there were elements of personal relationships, they were minimal.

"Let me first introduce the basics of this topic---" Guan Ruyan knew the importance of this conference, and having an assistant present it would clearly show a lack of respect, so he took charge personally, with Lu Xiaolu prepared to assist if necessary.

Since the topic was entirely designed by Lu Xiaolu, including the ideas and details, and he even wrote the final project proposal, Guan Ruyan had been very busy recently, attending numerous academic conferences and dealing with his son’s matters, so he had only become familiar with the topic recently. Given that the experts present might become critically scrutinizing, Lu Xiaolu could step in to assist during crucial moments.

"T cells, isolated from white blood cells and incorporated with a specific chimeric antigen receptor gene, are modified into the desired CAR T cells. These are then cultivated and multiplied in the laboratory, waiting to be transformed into warriors that can identify and kill cancer cells. At this point, we reintroduce them into the human bloodstream to reach the target tumor through blood circulation, where these special warrior cells recognize and kill tumor cells. This is the common practice of CAR T cell therapy for tumors worldwide."

"CAR-T therapy, as a revolutionary tumor treatment method using genetic engineering to alter the body’s own immune cells, has brought new hope to numerous patients with hematological cancers. However, there are still unavoidable issues---CAR-T cells cannot treat solid tumors, as solid tumors lack the binding antigens found in blood tumors, preventing CAR-T cells from recognizing and targeting solid tumor cells."

"Our topic addresses this issue---using a special kind of CAR-T cells to treat solid tumors, which, if successful, would be a significant breakthrough."

After Guan Ruyan briefly introduced the topic, the room erupted in enthusiastic applause. It had to be acknowledged; this topic pinpointed the pain points of CAR-T therapy. Many pharmaceutical companies implementing CAR-T therapy were investing heavily in research, but no significant breakthroughs had been made yet. Guan Ruyan’s topic approached the pain points of CAR-T therapy from a novel angle, which, if successful, could expand the indications for CAR-T therapy treatments, benefitting both patients and pharmaceutical companies.

"Professor Guan, in your use of CAR-T therapy to treat solid tumors, could you reveal the specific methods of implementation? We know that currently, CAR-T cells are limited to the treatment of blood-related tumors because, as a cell type, they can only be transported via the bloodstream. This is mainly because most solid tumors lack antigens that bind with CAR-T cells, thus they cannot be recognized and eliminated."

"Although neoantigens, a class of HLA-binding peptides produced by tumor-specific mutations, exhibit high immunogenicity because they are not found in normal tissues, thus avoiding central thymic tolerance, they are not suitable for a large number of patients.

"Moreover, even after selecting the best antigen targets, the functionality of CAR-T depends on factors such as its ability to prevent tumor immune escape of antigenic sites, meaning there is still a possibility of tumor escape. These factors are the reasons why this therapy performs poorly in treating solid tumors."

"Do you think when CAR-T cells are combined with targeted drugs, CAR-T cells targeted towards persistent cells expressing specific surface proteins can more effectively delay the emergence of complete resistance"

The series of questions were from Professor Shen Xuebin from Beijing, a professor who returned from studying abroad and was part of the Thousand Talents Plan. He was very optimistic about this project and had long admired Guan Ruyan’s talents. This was a perfect opportunity for him to communicate directly with Guan Ruyan.

"Our approach is to modify the neoantigens to be recognizable by most patients with a certain type of solid tumor, thus broadening the application scope." Guan Ruyan answered with a smile before taking a sip of water.

"What I mean is how you achieve this modification, what tools you use for antigen modification, as I believe there are no tools currently capable of this. What unique insights do you have regarding the application of modification tools? Secondly, how do you avoid the controllability of new tools in modification, to prevent some adverse reactions from becoming uncontrolled?"

Indeed, Guan Ruyan had not researched the modification tools carefully; this had always been Lu Xiaolu’s responsibility. He took another sip of water and cleared his throat, "I apologize, I’ve been a bit under the weather these past few days, my throat isn’t very good. Xiao Lu, could you please introduce the details of the modification tools to everyone?"

In fact, at such conferences, few people really get serious about grabbing onto these details and insisting on questioning everything. Everyone is from the same circle, where it is better to forgive where forgiveness is due. What if, next time, someone else raised equally sharp questions when it was their turn? However, Professor Shen was upright, he had a significant interest in this topic, and he held many doubts. Today’s rare opportunity for direct communication naturally made him want to clarify things, and he had no intention of embarrassing Guan Ruyan.

Lu Xiaolu immediately took over the conversation, "Professor Shen asked a great question. Our modification tool is a brand-new type of tool, tailor-made for this project,"

Professor Shen nodded in satisfaction. He had not guessed wrong; the other party had indeed adopted a brand-new modification tool. However, the concept behind the tool surprised him; he wondered why he had never thought of it before.

"A professor from Heidelberg University in Germany had proposed this idea before, but it was never realized, right?" Professor Shen had extensive knowledge.

Lu Xiaolu quickly replied, "That was my doctoral mentor. I continued researching along his lines of thinking, oh, Professor Guan guided me to continue along his lines, and we finally succeeded this year, hence launching the current project."

Lu Xiaolu realized he was about to overstep, so he handed the initiative back to Guan Ruyan, "If Professor Guan were not feeling under the weather today, his explanation of the modification tool would be far more profound. My understanding of the tool is far inferior to Professor Guan’s."

Guan Ruyan was very satisfied with Lu Xiaolu’s performance; this guy was smart and always managed to assist him beautifully. Afterwards, Guan Ruyan added some flowery language, essentially summarizing Lu Xiaolu’s speech.

"Professor Guan, I feel a bit uncomfortable in my stomach. I need to step out for a bit, no more than ten minutes," Lu Xiaolu suddenly felt unwell and took a temporary "leave" from Guan Ruyan.

Guan Ruyan immediately nodded his approval. Such requests had to be granted. It was not possible to make him hold it in at such a moment.

"Your new modification tool is very ingenious. I am curious, how does the modified antigen achieve lasting effectiveness at the binding site? It is known that your type of new antigens share a common characteristic: they lack binding duration. How did Professor Guan resolve this?"

An English-speaking professor from the United States, who was curious about another issue, raised the question in English.

"In our previous research, we discovered a new type of expression protein that aids in the durability of binding. Thus, in this experiment, we simulated the mechanism of tumor cells releasing this expression protein. When new CAR-T cells and new antigens bind, it releases this kind of expression protein, thus ensuring the durability of the binding,"

"We have also researched this expression protein, but it lacks universality; it often fails to express in many scenarios. How did you address the issue of expression failure? I mean, how do you precisely and sensitively determine the scenarios and timing of expression recognition, and once expression is initiated, how do you ensure the expression is fully realized?"

This question was probably complex to answer; Guan Ruyan had had no time to thoroughly explore it, as it wasn’t a superficial issue and involved the application of many cutting-edge technologies currently at the forefront.

"This issue is very complex, involving the application of many leading-edge technologies. If we are to discuss it in detail, it would require a lot of time. Could we do this? I’ll explain it to you in detail after the session." Guan Ruyan glanced around, wondering why Lu Xiaolu hadn’t returned yet.

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