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Treatment of anemia caused by chronic kidney disease or other diseases always requires repeated injections or infusions of an artificial form of the hormone erythropoietin EPO, that stimulates production of red blood cells. Vanderbilt-led research team has shown they can reverse anemia in mice by injecting white blood cell- T-cell that has been genetically engineered to secrete EPO.
When the initial injection is followed by “booster shots” of antigens that cause the T-cells to proliferate and expand, they remain in the bloodstream for several weeks. Human T-cells grown in the laboratory also can be genetically modified to secrete EPO, T cells can be genetically modified to deliver therapeutic proteins in a live animal.
T-cells cam be boost to even 300 days after their delivery to an animal this allowed the use of EPO as a model system for therapy of a disease Segments of the DNA can be moved or transposed into T-cells to allow insertion of new genetic material. T-cells have been reprogrammed in this way to identify and destroy cancer cells in patients with leukemia or lymphoma.
Similar “transposon system” could be used for long-term cellular delivery of therapeutic peptides. These are protein fragments that have shown promise in treating type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hormone deficiencies and other disorders.
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