Surgery Godfather-Chapter 1376 - 1044: A Super Gold Mine

Yang Ping’s tumor treatment project is underway, and his current goal is to create an oncolytic virus using certain viruses or bacteria combined with the K-factor. This approach is known as oncolytic virus therapy, abbreviated as OVT in medicine.

The current mechanism of oncolytic virus therapy is to stimulate the immune system to attack both the virus and the tumor cells, increasing the number of B cells, T cells, macrophages, and other immune cells, and letting these immune cells fight the battle.

However, Yang Ping’s approach is different; his virus serves as a carrier, with the K-factor being the entity that attacks the cells. The mechanism relies on the principle of cell apoptosis.

Therefore, strictly speaking, it should be given a new name, not referred to as oncolytic virus therapy.

It should be called virus-mediated K-factor-targeted non-tolerance therapy, or K-factor virus therapy.

Beata Halasi, who initially succeeded in using oncolytic virus therapy to treat triple-negative breast cancer, employed measles virus and herpangina virus. These viruses could infect cell types originating from breast cancer and had already been used in clinical trials.

The experience of predecessors has strengthened Yang Ping’s confidence. At the very least, he could choose from a wider variety of viruses than his predecessors because many viruses had already been tested by them. Even if some showed poor effects, they were at least harmless to the human body or had side effects within an acceptable range. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

For example, the measles vaccine strain is widely used in children’s measles vaccines, and the worst herpangina virus can induce is mild flu symptoms. Therefore, they are very safe for the human body. This is the most basic condition for using viruses as carriers.

When Beata Halasi used these two viruses, she didn’t employ them merely as carriers. Instead, she allowed them to infect the tumor cells and then activated the body’s immune system to attack the virus because the virus and tumor cells were together, so the immune cells also attacked the tumor cells while fighting the virus.

Now, Yang Ping is using the virus solely as a carrier, entrusting the task of killing tumor cells to the K-factor, much like how a missile carries a nuclear warhead. The missile is only the carrier, while the nuclear warhead is the weapon that unleashes the ultimate destructive power.

Although this method also uses viruses against tumors, it is completely different from oncolytic virus therapy and is instead a novel tumor treatment method.

When choosing such a virus, it is necessary to consider whether the virus can infect the progenitor cells of the tumor. For instance, Sisi’s primary tumor was osteosarcoma, whose source cells are osteoblasts. Hence, the virus used to treat this tumor must be able to infect osteoblasts.

In oncolytic virus therapy, one approach is to inject the virus directly into the tumor, increase the number of immune cells, and use these cells to attack the tumor. This was Beata Halasi’s method; she had triple-negative breast cancer and relapsed after traditional surgery and chemotherapy. Unable to undergo further chemotherapy after her relapse, she, a virology expert, cultivated the virus herself for self-treatment and achieved favorable results. She also published a paper in a renowned medical journal.

Of course, her paper was rejected by more than a dozen journals due to ethical issues at the time, as experimenting on oneself is ethically controversial.

Yang Ping reviewed his project again, clarifying his thoughts and strengthening his confidence. The pressing matter was to select the right virus, then modify it to carry the K-factor; theoretically, with this done, the project would already be halfway to success.

The major laboratories are located just above the ward area of the Surgical Research Institute, which allows Yang Ping to communicate with laboratory researchers quite effectively; he could visit the laboratory at any time to get the latest updates on the experiments.

Yang Ping glanced at the time; it was still early. The surgeries earlier in the day were led by Song Zimo, Xu Zhiliang, and Xia Shu. This was a good opportunity for him to visit the laboratory and inquire about their current progress.

The Surgical Research Institute’s building has eight floors, which is currently sufficient and offers ample space. The Stem Cell Laboratory and Tumor Laboratory each occupy an entire floor, providing world-class hardware conditions in all respects.

There are three essential elements to scientific research: talent, equipment, and environment — the latter primarily being a cultural environment. The cultural atmosphere of scientific research must have a scientific and technological temperament: simple, relaxed, free, and equal.

If laboratory researchers have to flatter each other, engage in dinner table politics, or form cliques every day, then even the best hardware in the universe is of no use.

Those who are genuinely dedicated to scientific research have neither interest nor the inclination to engage in social drinking; they just want to create something significant in their own little bit of space.

Therefore, Yang Ping places great importance on the cultural development of the laboratory. Establishing cultural traditions is especially important for the future survival and development of the laboratory. By the time he visited the laboratory, everyone had started their work, busying themselves with their tasks.

Despite Yang Ping’s arrival, these people didn’t stop their work to gather around or line up to welcome him. Rather than feeling neglected, Yang Ping was reassured by the formation of the laboratory’s culture.

"How is the work on virus screening doing?" Yang Ping sat in the Oncology Research Laboratory.

Lu Xiaolu stood up and walked over to a whiteboard, which hung with many small cards, each card depicting a virus. There were over a dozen such cards on the whiteboard.