Near the middle By 2022, we will have seen a number of successes in developing immune systems. Plague has already begun to develop new species of vaccine, as based on mRNA, and their work will be expanded next year to protect us from germs. But we will also look at other ways to use the immune system to fight infections.
One of these will be the new types of antibody-producing drugs. Antibodies are produced by the body in response to infection and we have developed ways to use highly engineered antibodies to target cancer cells for damage. We can also strengthen the immune system to fight cancer or reduce the immune system that causes arthritis. In fact, antibodies are already the basis of seven of the ten most effective antibodies in the world.
These antibodies are used in a way that they use their natural ability to shut down for certain reasons. Formulation of antibodies that were left untouched. In 2022, everything will change.
Now, through genetic engineering or separation and re-integration of protein and chemical components, we have tools that can change the antibody form. This will enable us to make all kinds of antibodies. For example, we will be able to make antibodies that can detect and attach to three different targets simultaneously — perhaps a cancer cell, a receptor protein that activates immune cells, and other immune proteins that stimulate the response. It is already made with an antibody that can block the three outer parts of the virus, such as HIV. This should make it harder for the virus to mutate and avoid surveillance.
Another type of immunosuppressive drug that became popular in 2022 is CAR T-cell therapy. Here, T-cells are removed from a patient’s bloodstream and genetically modified to give them a new receptor that looks for the patient’s cancer. T-cells are inserted backwards, in the hope that they will now be able to kill the patient’s cancer cells. To some extent, this type of treatment is already used: some children or adolescents with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia have been treated with CAR T-cell treatment and its side effects, as well as side effects and recurrence in some patients. Next year, this type of treatment will grow using different types of immune cells, or different receptors, and so on. CAR T cells can be programmed to, for example, kill small part of a body that causes autoimmune diseases.
Our understanding of the immune system will also help us to develop new diagnostic tools. Artificial intelligence already gives us incredible depths around the immune cells. It also helps us to link their components, for example, the severity of the symptoms experienced by the coronavirus. Next year, we will be able to look at the immune signals associated with the major cases of Covid-19 and other diseases, and be able to predict the onset of the disease and adjust treatment accordingly. In 2022 and beyond, our growing knowledge of the immune system will bring new drugs and new therapeutic approaches.
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