About halfway In 2022, we will see some significant breakthroughs in the ways in which we can engineer the body’s immune system to fight disease. The pandemic has led to the development of various types Vaccine, such as those based on mRNA, and their use will be expanded next year to protect us against other pathogens. But we’ll also see other ways to harness the immune system to fight disease.
One of these will be new types Antibody-based drugs. Antibodies are made by the body in response to infection, and we’ve found a way to use artificially produced antibodies to mark cancer cells for death. We can also enhance the response of the body’s immune cells against cancer or decrease the immune activity that causes problems in rheumatoid arthritis. Indeed, antibodies are already the basis of seven of the ten most profitable drugs in the world.
These antibodies are used in a way that exploits their natural ability to lock onto specific targets. The design of the antibodies themselves remains relatively intact. In 2022, all of that will change.
Now, using genetic engineering or by chemically separating and recombining parts of a protein, we have tools that can change what the basic structure of an antibody is. These will allow us to manufacture all kinds of antibody-based drugs. For example, we will be able to produce antibodies that can recognize and attach to three distinct targets at once — possibly a cancer cell, an immune cell-activating receptor protein, and a cellular protein. other immune cells enhance the response. Currently in development is an antibody that can lock onto three different parts of a virus’s outer coat, such as HIV. This will make it harder for the virus to mutate and avoid being targeted.
Another immune system-based drug that will become prominent in 2022 is CAR T-cell therapy. Here, T cells are extracted from the patient’s blood and genetically engineered to give them a new receptor that targets the patient’s own cancer. The engineered T cells are then infused back, hopefully now killing the patient’s cancer cells. To some extent, this type of therapy has been used: some children or young adults with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia have been treated with CAR T-cell therapy with some positive results. The results are outstanding, but there are also undesirable and recurrent side effects in some patients. Next year, this type of therapy will expand using different types of immune cells, or different versions of receptors, etc. For example, CAR T cells can be engineered to kill A problematic subset of the body’s own immune cells is causing autoimmune disease.
Our continued understanding of the immune system will also allow us to develop new diagnostic tools. Artificial intelligence has provided us with unprecedented in-depth analysis of immune cells. It also helps us compare their parameters, such as the severity of symptoms a person has experienced with coronavirus. Next year, we’ll be able to look for immune markers that correlate with severe cases of Covid-19 and other diseases, and be able to predict the trajectory of the disease and tailor treatments to it. Fit. In 2022 and beyond, our growing knowledge of the immune system will lead to new drugs and new approaches to medicine.
Get more expert predictions for the coming year. WIRELESS World in 2022 features intelligence and must-know insights sourced from the brightest minds in the WIRED network. Now available on newsstands, as a Digital Download, or you can order your copy online.
Stories with WIRED are more amazing
