granulocytes (premium field)

Granulocytes, specifically neutrophils, help the body fight bacterial infections. They also play a pivotal role in cancer-resistance and treatment as outline below. The number of granulocytes in the body usually increases when there is a serious infection. People with a lower number of granulocytes are more likely to develop bad infections more often.

"Professor Cui, this mouse didn't get cancer. Should I get rid of him?" It was a standard experiment in Zheng Cui's lab at Wake Forest University, North Carolina: Inject inbred mice with cancer cells, not to study cancer, but to produce antibodies for a lipid experiment. "There must have been a mistake," said Cui, "Inject him again." Two weeks later, still no cancer. "Try again with a higher dose!" Still no cancer. No cancer even at a million times the lethal dose. Cui decided to breed the mutant mouse.

My husband, Tom Haines, and Chinese-born Zheng Cui are long-time colleagues in lipid research. When we visited his lab in 2001, Cui showed us stacks of cages holding hundreds of little brown cancer-resistant mice. He had already worked out the genetics of the mice, and bred the resistance trait into a second variety of lab mice. He had also discovered that while young mice don't get cancer at all when injected, older mice get cancer which then spontaneously disappears! The mechanism remained a mystery.

In fall 2002, my husband introduced Cui to leading cancer researcher Lloyd J. Old, director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and founder of the New York Cancer Research Institute. Old was enthusiastic. As a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Old submitted Cui's article on spontaneous regression of advanced cancer in mice to the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), where it appeared in March 2003. Cui also published a personal account of his discovery.

With support from Old's Cancer Research Institute, Cui continued experiments on the mice. He injected white blood cells from cancer-resistant mice into non-resistant mice with tumors. Amazing! The tumors shrank and disappeared. More experiments revealed what was killing the tumors: granulocytes, the largest class of white blood cells. Granulocytes look speckled under a microscope because they're packed with little torpedo-shaped particles. They home in on invading bacteria and inject the torpedoes, which then blow holes in the bacterial membrane. It appeared that granulocytes were doing the same to cancer cells. The cancer-resistant mice showed that some individuals have super-aggressive granulocytes. With Old as a coauthor, Cui's second PNAS article, on transferable anticancer immunity appeared in March 2006.

Cui could then have settled into a successful career studying cancer-resistant mice. Instead, he took an audacious step: If some mice have super-resistance to cancer, he proposed, perhaps some humans do too. In fact, perhaps transfusions of granulocytes from super-resistant humans could treat cancer patients! Preliminary lab tests on human granulocytes indicated some people are indeed super-resistant.

Cui began to seek funding to test the transfusion theory. He already knew support wouldn't come easily; blood transfusions are old technology and so can't be patented. The pharmaceutical industry of course would take no interest. And as Cui found, clinical oncologists resist anything outside the usual treatments, even when they have nothing more to offer their patients. Finally, in 2008, he obtained a grant and FDA approval for a clinical trial at Wake Forest. But shortly before the trial was to start, the university cancelled it without explanation.”

Granulocytes are the most common type of white blood cell. They contain enzyme granules, which form in the cytoplasm (a thick, semi-fluid solution that fills each cell). When infection or inflammation enters the body, granulocytes rush to the area, releasing their granules to fight infection.

Consider this an upgrade to your granulocytes.  This field is also specifically designed to help any animal in the vicinity.

Legal disclaimer: Not intended to be substitute for medical treatment always consult a doctor when needed.