T-cells with electricity relaxes the membranes that surround the cells, enabling the insertion of new genetic material, the Post reported.
The research by James Wilson, director of the gene therapy program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine, and his colleagues was published in the journal Nature.
“It’s a turning point,” Vincenzo Cerundolo, director, Human Immunology Unit, Oxford University, U.K., told the Post. He was not involved in the new research.
“It is a game-changer in the field and I’m sure that this technology has legs,” said Cerundolo, who added that the research could lead to cheaper and faster immunotherapy.
Being able to quickly reprogram T cells to become cancer fighters is “extraordinarily significant,” Fred Ramsdell, vice president of research at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in San Francisco, told the Post. He was not involved in the study.
But the scientists who developed the new approach noted that they need to conduct more research.
“There will have to be discussions with