新技术可帮助评估抗癌药对白血病的疗效

  近日，来自曼彻斯特大学的研究人员开发了一种新方法，其可以帮助监测抗癌药物对非常罕见的白血病干细胞的作用效力，这种方法或可帮助医生更好地对患者进行筛查以及进行个体化治疗。

  近年来新型抗癌制剂的开发大大改善了慢性髓样白血病(CML)患者的预后，这些酪氨酸激酶抑制剂（TKIs）可以靶向作用患者机体突变的异常蛋白；然而由于耐药性癌症干细胞的存在往往会不断更新产生白血病细胞群，从而使得患者疾病复发最终引发患者死亡。因此开发治疗CML的任何一种新型药物都必须对白血病干细胞进行作用检测，然而这些癌症干细胞的数量往往较少，仅能通过特定的细胞表面标志物来进行检测，于是本文的研究人员开发了一种新型检测方法，其可以有效地监测药物对干细胞的作用效率。

  研究者Tony Whetton说道，当前的技术需要大量的细胞才可以通过TKIs来进行检测，而我们的研究则提供了一种新型潜在的平台技术，其可以在细胞数量较少的情况下鉴别出药物对细胞的作用效果。研究人员通过利用基于抗体的方法来检测特定蛋白的结构改变，从而来追踪TKIs药物的作用效率，而这种平台装置安装固定了特殊的蛋白质，并且使其作为一种信号来指示少量干细胞的存在，利用这种方法研究者就可以记录罕见的白血病干细胞的改变。

  最后研究者Whetton说道，这种新型技术将使得我们可以对来自病人机体的细胞进行药物有效性的检测，这对于后期开发治疗白血病及其它疾病的新型个体化疗法，来有效靶向杀灭肿瘤，改善病人的生活质量提供了新的帮助和希望。（转化医学网360zhyx.com）

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The recent development of novel agents has improved outcomes for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). These so-called tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) target abnormal proteins caused by commonly found genetic mutations in CML patients. However, the existence of treatment-resistant cancer stem cells -- cells that are able to repeatedly renew the leukemia cell population -- is one way that many patients experience disease recurrence when treatment stops.

Any new drug must therefore be tested on such stem cells, but unfortunately they are only found in very low numbers and are identified by certain cell surface markers. Now researchers at The University of Manchester -- part of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre -- have tested a way to monitor the effect of drugs on small samples of cells.

Professor Tony Whetton, head of the Stem Cell and Leukaemia Proteomics Laboratory who led the study, said: "Current techniques require greater numbers of cells in order to detect changes caused by TKIs. Our study investigated the potential of a new technology platform that can identify changes in very small cell numbers."

The research team looked at an antibody-based approach to detect structural changes in certain proteins, in order to track the effectiveness of the TKI drugs. The instrument used fixes proteins in place and holds them, there allowing for a better signal to be generated from less material. With this approach they found that they could record changes in samples of only a few thousand critically important but rare stem cells.

"This new approach will enable us to test drugs on cells taken from patients, either at presentation or in a clinical trial setting. It has great potential to allow us to implement precision medicine, where patients receive the most appropriate treatment to target their individual tumour," added Professor Whetton.