Feb 2022: A 12-year-old girl from southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality was saved by an unconventional therapy instead of chemotherapy or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Yi Mengdie has a seven-month medical history and has been given first-aid six times within a day due to the deterioration of her disease, according to local media (cbg.cn). She has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), a type of cancer in which the bone marrow produces too many immature white blood cells.
Yi’s fever had gone away and her different indexes had returned to normal when CBG reporter saw her in the city’s Southwest Hospital in October after taking a new therapy called CAR-T cell therapy on September 18.
According to the same study, 25 individuals were treated in the hospital with this therapy.
CAR-T cells and TCR T cells have specific receptors on their surfaces that have been designed. They’re then expanded in the lab before being given back to the patient.
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the US government’s premier office for cancer research, T cells are commonly referred to as the immune system’s workhorses because of their vital function in coordinating the immune response and killing cells infected by infections.
Drawing blood from patients and extracting T cells is required for CAR-T cell treatment. The T cells are then genetically altered to develop receptors on their surface called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), which allow the T cells to recognize and adhere to a specific protein, or antigen, on tumour cells, using a disarmed virus, according to the National Cancer Institute.
After the T cells have been designed to express the antigen-specific CAR, they are “expanded” into hundreds of millions in the laboratory.
If all goes according to plan, the designed cells will multiply in the patient’s body and, with the help of their engineered receptor, will recognize and kill cancer cells with the antigen on their surfaces, according to the NCI.
Renier J. Brentjens, an early leader in the CAR-T cell field, described CAR-T cells as “offering patients a living medication.”
Dr. Nishant Mittal is a highly accomplished researcher with over 13 years of experience in the fields of cardiovascular biology and cancer research. His career is marked by significant contributions to stem cell biology, developmental biology, and innovative research techniques.
Research Highlights
Dr. Mittal's research has focused on several key areas:
1) Cardiovascular Development and Regeneration: He studied coronary vessel development and regeneration using zebrafish models1.
2) Cancer Biology: At Dartmouth College, he developed zebrafish models for studying tumor heterogeneity and clonal evolution in pancreatic cancer.
3) Developmental Biology: His doctoral work at Keio University involved identifying and characterizing medaka fish mutants with cardiovascular defects.
4) Stem Cell Research: He investigated the effects of folic acid on mouse embryonic stem cells and worked on cryopreservation techniques for hematopoietic stem cells.
Publications and Presentations
Dr. Mittal has authored several peer-reviewed publications in reputable journals such as Scientific Reports, Cardiovascular Research, and Disease Models & Mechanisms1. He has also presented his research at numerous international conferences, including the Stanford-Weill Cornell Cardiovascular Research Symposium and the Weinstein Cardiovascular Development Conference.
In summary, Dr. Nishant Mittal is a dedicated and accomplished researcher with a strong track record in cardiovascular and cancer biology, demonstrating expertise in various model systems and a commitment to advancing scientific knowledge through innovative research approaches.
