I like to study targeted cancer therapy in relationship with cytokine receptors. This is a new approach to cure cancer and Iwas wondering if any of our active members are involved in any type of research related to cancer therapy by cytokine receptors.

Hi Roshan, well I assume by using cytokine receptors for therapy you mean using soluble versions of receptors to neutralise growth factors and cytokines. Many groups are pursuing the de-activation of growth factors such as VEGF or EGF in certain types of cancers. One issue is selectivity. You can build an antagonist to the receptor, or a MoAb to the growth factor. Another approach is to use an Fc-chimera as a MoAb substitute. A group called apollo cytokine research builds Fc chimeras of the extracellular domain of receptors. Often the affinity is very good, and of course the selectivity of this type of protein is unquestionable. So you don't get any non-specific effects.

Roshan said:

I like to study targeted cancer therapy in relationship with cytokine receptors. This is a new approach to cure cancer and Iwas wondering if any of our active members are involved in any type of research related to cancer therapy by cytokine receptors.

Yes, there is renewed hope that such type of therapy will be beneficial, but I had to chuckle on your 'new approach' comment a bit. As a grad student in the 1980's I tried combining cytokines with ricin (we didn't have the antibodies to target the receptors). Needless to say, that project failed on technological grounds - the general idea is still good.

I believe there was a National Geographic cover article sometime in the 1970's (??) talking about 'magic bullets.' It is an interesting lesson to note how long we've had to wait for some of those bullets to reach the physician's holster. Finding the right targets and producing humanized antibodies has taken a long time, but I think the payoff is coming.

Good luck with your reesearch and Happy new Year!