Chapter 121: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (8)

Chapter 121: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (8)

Samuel, the editor for Science, was extremely excited after reading the newsletter that he received in the morning.

Jessie! Jessie! Go on a work trip! he shouted urgently.

To Korea? Jessie, who had basically become Young-Joons personal interviewer, asked.

No. Sweden.

Oh! What a surprise! Is it Karolinska? Or Lund University? Doctor Ryu Young-Joon has been dominating the scientific community these days, so its time for a paper to come out from the West as a counterattack. Jessie said like she was glad to hear it.

Its Doctor Ryus.

What?

Jessie squinted.

Doctor Ryu took his scientist to a conference in Sweden, and he wrote a paper in two weeks after doing research there.

... How is that possible?

Has anything hes done ever made sense before? Anyways, go. This is important.

Has anything hes done not been important? Jessie said, impersonating Samuel. Did he make some incredible new drug again? she asked as she approached him.

He reported on the countereffect of the immune checkpoint inhibitor.

Immune checkpoint inhibitor?

Doctor Olivers technology was developed at the Cold Spring Lab.

...

The most famous technology among the next-generation of immunotherapies. Its about how hyperprogression can occur if it is administered to lung cancer patients with an EGFR mutation.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

Hyperprogression? Jessie said. She was shocked. This isnt just a mere side effect.

I know. Its not a side effect; its a countereffect. And I think there should be some additional explanations about the paper. This paper was the paper that Nature emphasized the most two years ago. And its also what the Cold Spring Lab and Jamie Anderson put forward as their biggest achievement in recent years.

...

The scientific community might exchange some bitter words with each other. Jamie Andersons faction and the opposite group might fight with Doctor Ryu in the middle of it.

Ill go, Jessie said.

* * *

Hyperprogression occurred in all the mice that were given more than one hundred micrograms of the immune checkpoint inhibitor. The mice that only received trace amounts were not in fatal condition, but they had gotten worse. The mice that received more than one milligram of the drug did not survive for more than eight days. As these mice all got worse than the mice that received no treatment, it seemed clear that the inhibitor was what killed the mice. This data was an important target for security as the paper hadnt been released yet.

However, Young-Joon revealed this to Hariot and the other evaluators, as well as Oliver and Kakeguni. He gathered them into a small seminar room and presented the data.

As you can see, hyperprogression occurred in all but four mice, which had received less than a microgram of the drug, and most died, Young-Joon presented.

He presented the data measuring the size of the mices tumor and their weight change. It was clear that the change in the tumor size was related to the dosage of the immune checkpoint inhibitor. Hyperprogression occurred faster with more of the inhibitor, the tumor enlarged more rapidly, and the mice died faster as a result.

I was told that this lung cancer cell was obtained from a lung cancer patient at Karolinska twenty years ago, Young-Joon said. What would have happened if the immune checkpoint inhibitor was administered to that patient? This drug is dangerous for NSCLC patients who have EGFR mutations.

The scientists were silent. Hariot was incredibly baffled. Hyperprogression really occurred, just like Young-Joon said. At this point, it was not science, but a prophecy.

So how does the hyperprogression occur? Can you tell us the mechanism? one of the doctors asked.

Yes, of course. We identified the mechanism as well. Lets look at the next data.

Young-Joon went on to the next slide.

As you can see, we identified that the expression of EGFR was amplified. If you treat these types of cancer cells with the immune checkpoint inhibitor, the EGFR signal becomes stronger, causing the cancer to increase explosively.

Doctor Ryu, Jamie Anderson said. The immune checkpoint inhibitor was administered to a lung cancer patient at Karolinska University Hospital.

Young-Joons eyes widened.

What? What kind of lung cancer?

Young-Joon sighed.

* * *

Jessie, who had arrived in Sweden, had not been able to meet Young-Joon.

Im sorry, but now is not the time for an interview nor am I in the mood. There are a total of three co-first authors of this project, so please interview them, Young-Joon said briefly and declined the interview.

He was sitting in a small cafe in Solna and drinking coffee.

Do you want to save the patient?

Yeah, Young-Joon replied in a quiet voice.

That patient does not have much time left. Hyperprogression has already begun, and it is difficult to control it. He will probably die in a few days.

Is there any way?

Of course, I can think of countless ways.

Rosaline said like it was not a big deal.

But realistically, most of them will be difficult for me to do, right?

Most of them are illegal. For example, you could administer a large amount of EGFR inhibitor through inhalation to stop hyperprogression.

Theres an inhibitor like that?

You have to make it.

But it takes time to make it?

Thats why it is a problem. You will be able to save the patient if you borrow or steal a lab in Solna, organically synthesize the inhibitor, skip all the animal experiments and the clinical trial approval process, and then shove it into the patients nose.

Experimental treatment is possible if I get consent from Marcus and the patient, but they wont agree to use some unknown chemical that hasnt been tested before.

Wont they just trust you and let you do it since youre a miracle-working scientist who has been successful in a lot of things?

Well, maybe if I desperately try to convince them. But I dont want to try it with some unclear possibility that they might let me do it.

Just administer it secretly. Then, you can still save the patient.

But then Ill go to jail.

Rosaline thumped her feet on the ground in anxiety while sitting in the chair.

Then there is no way.

...

Its possible to use chimeric immunotherapy, but it takes too long.

Young-Joon was lost in thought, but then his eyes widened.

Wait. Chimeric immunotherapy

What about it?

Rosaline. Im going to write a sci-fi novel right now. Tell me the possibility of it working.

Alright. Tell me.

Chimeric immunotherapy takes out the immune cells and gives it a new weapon by editing the genes.

Yes.

And the dendritic cells are cells that provide information about cancer cells to immune cells. And Professor Kakegunis technology is about stimulating dendritic cells to help that process.

Thats right.

What if we revise it a little and make it so that the dendritic cell delivers the gene to the immune cell? What if we give the weapons to the immune cells in the patients body? Young-Joon asked. Then, wouldn't we be able to skip the process of extracting immune cells from the patients body and manipulating the gene and do the chimeric immunotherapy right away?

1. more commonly known as a CT