Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, have developed an antigen that can hitch-hike on a natural protein called serum albumin in blood and ride all the way to the nearest lymph node.
- This development opens up a new way to bring out cancer vaccines. Serum albumin is the most abundant protein in blood plasma.
Key points
- Lymph nodes in our bodies are sites of activation of cells involved in disease-fighting antibodies.
- Antigens are molecules that trigger antibody response. Developing a cancer vaccine, involves modifying or creating a mimic of an antigen found on the surface of cancer cells to turn up or turn on this antibody production.
- In recent years, scientists have turned to carbohydrates found on cancer cell surfaces to develop these antigens.
- Carbohydrate-based antigens have enormous importance and relevance in cancer vaccine development. One major reason is that both normal and abnormal cancer cells have large amounts of carbohydrates coating their surfaces.
- But the abnormal cells carry carbohydrates that are very heavily truncated.
- Scientists have earlier tried ferrying such antigens into the body using an artificial protein or virus particle as the carrier. But these carriers can be bulky, lead to side-effects, and sometimes reduce antibody production against cancer cells.
- The IISc team, instead, decided to exploit the carrying ability of a natural protein called serum albumin, the most abundant protein in blood plasma.
