Yes, CAR-Ts are really a B cell receptor (otherwise known as an antibody) grafted onto a T cell. Antibody directly binds things like proteins, and usually targeted to things found on cell membranes.
Also on the cell membrane is MHC-1, which shows a short (9-11 amino acid) fragment of protein produced from inside the cell. Our T cells are trained in our T cell kindergarten (the thymus) to not identify our usual self proteins, but detects anything different. They have already been demonstrated to identify single amino acid changes from normal.
Yes, the micro-environment means the immune cells reach a dynamic equibrium. This is because when a cancer presents to healthcare, it is already a chronic process. The T cells are termed 'exhausted', but it's debatable whether this is a good term for it, because they are still active.
A lot of cancer treatment 'shakes up' the microenvironment. This can be enough to tip into a cure. When you make CAR-Ts and adoptive TILS you either pick healthy T cells not involved in the cancer or buff them up in the lab, both in numbers and health.
The hope is that a refreshed army of T cells will push that dynamic equilibrium towards a cure.
I think there is more information than that. There are 20 amino acids, so around 1x10^13 possible sequences.
This is also a clue as to why we don't have a perfectly rigid system, as a library of T cells capable of recognising every combination would weigh 600+ kg.
I had a brain fart. I was thinking of DNA base pairs not amino acids :) Thanks for that.
There are 20 amino acids. Each AA in a sequence represents approx 4.3 bits. So 9-11 AA would be 38.7-47.3 bits. Not quite as much as an MD5 hash (128 bits), but still quite a bit of info.
Also on the cell membrane is MHC-1, which shows a short (9-11 amino acid) fragment of protein produced from inside the cell. Our T cells are trained in our T cell kindergarten (the thymus) to not identify our usual self proteins, but detects anything different. They have already been demonstrated to identify single amino acid changes from normal.
Yes, the micro-environment means the immune cells reach a dynamic equibrium. This is because when a cancer presents to healthcare, it is already a chronic process. The T cells are termed 'exhausted', but it's debatable whether this is a good term for it, because they are still active.
A lot of cancer treatment 'shakes up' the microenvironment. This can be enough to tip into a cure. When you make CAR-Ts and adoptive TILS you either pick healthy T cells not involved in the cancer or buff them up in the lab, both in numbers and health.
The hope is that a refreshed army of T cells will push that dynamic equilibrium towards a cure.