It is possible to completely replace the blood of a person suffering from leukemia with the blood donated by a healthy person in a process similar to that of a DJ, which causes the first song to fade in and out the volume of the second.
Published in the journal Nature, the experimental technique was applied in research led by the Swiss University of Basel and gave good results in tests on mice and human cells.
The technique uses antibodies specialized in recognizing tumor cells, linked to a drug that can kill them selectively, without harming healthy cells.
The published results are very promising and pave the way for new therapeutic options not only for those affected by leukemia, but also, for example, to correct serious genetic defects or for more resistance to specific viruses such as HIV.
Researchers coordinated by Lukas Jeker have constructed antibodies capable of recognizing a special surface structure present on all blood cells, healthy and diseased, but not on other cells of the body.
To prevent the possibility of the same antibodies killing the new cells, the latter are modified to 'protect' them from their attack.
