A UCF cancer researcher is discovering ways that the body\u2019s own natural killer (NK) cells can be energized to fight deadly pediatric cancers and improve immunotherapy by unleashing the power of our immune system.<\/p>\n
UCF Associate Professor of Medicine<\/a> Alicja Copik has focused her career on developing technologies that \u201cbeef up\u201d the body\u2019s NK cells. These cells are the body\u2019s first line of defense in protecting you from viral and other pathogenic infections and even malignancies. Copik\u2019s lab has used nanoparticle technology and genetic engineering to make these cells into better-armed cancer killers.<\/p>\n Her technology is being used to grow NK cells that are in clinical trials for the treatment of adults with leukemia. In recent publications, she has studied if removing one of molecular \u201cbrakes\u201d that cancer cells use to avoid being killed \u2014 either through antibodies or genetic engineering \u2014 can enhance NK cell anti-tumor power. In initial laboratory testing, this approach is showing strong results in killing neuroblastoma cancer cell lines, the most common cancer in infants. Children with high-risk neuroblastoma have a five-year survival rate of just 50%.<\/p>\n These children must undergo painful treatments that include chemotherapy, antibody therapy and bone marrow transplants \u2014 half of which fail.<\/p>\n \u201cWe throw everything but the kitchen sink at these kids and still can\u2019t stop the cancer,\u201d says Brian Tullius, a U.S. Navy veteran, former flight surgeon, pediatric cancer specialist at AdventHealth in Orlando and the hospital\u2019s research medical director for pediatric cellular therapy, who is collaborating in Copik\u2019s research<\/a>.<\/p>\n