Cancer is an umbrella term encompassing more than 100 diseases, all characterized by uncontrolled cell growth. Resulting from errors in the normal cell reproduction process, it can occur in any organ or tissue through a variety of mechanisms, making it difficult to develop a single, comprehensive treatment.
Conventional therapies include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery, each varying in terms of effectiveness and side effects. A more recent approach is immunotherapy, which seeks to enhance or restore the body’s immune system. While conventional treatments aim to directly eliminate the cancer, immunotherapy helps the immune system do the job itself. Examples include lab-produced monoclonal antibodies and vaccines targeting certain cancers, such as HPV.
When scientists discovered in the 1980s that it was possible to manipulate T lymphocytes (a family of cells that coordinates the immune response, destroys infected or cancerous cells, and acts as a living memory of their targets), a new field of research emerged. Today, CAR T cells have become an established treatment option for certain blood cancers. Through this approach, a patient’s T lymphocytes are extracted and then, in a lab, equipped with synthetic receptors designed to identify the specific cancer antigen affecting the patient, creating a personalized, living medicine.
In 2019, the Ribeirão Preto Blood Center, affiliated with USP, became the first to offer this type of therapy in Brazil. It is now the largest center in Latin America that specializes in producing genetically modified T cells. Our biomedical sciences editor, Ricardo Zorzetto, spent two days at the Advanced Therapy Center in Ribeirão Preto and reported on the latest research and treatment in the field, which began in the 2000s at the Cell Therapy Center, funded by FAPESP. Making this treatment more accessible is one of the goals of Brazilian institutions working on creating their own versions of CAR T cells, using various methods, as an alternative to existing commercial products, which are prohibitively expensive and unavailable through Brazil’s public health system (SUS).
Another trip by our team, which included photography by Léo Ramos Chaves, arose from an interview with engineer Renato Cotta. As part of the Brazilian Navy’s Nuclear Program, Cotta contributed to the development of ultracentrifuges for uranium enrichment, which produce fuel for the Angra nuclear power plants in Rio de Janeiro. Cotta arranged for our technology editor, Yuri Vasconcelos, to visit the Aramar Nuclear Industrial Center in Iperó, São Paulo, where he reported on the progress of the program, which despite decades of budget ups and downs, has been advancing for 40 years. On this topic, another article examines how Brazilian public universities are increasingly relying on parliamentary amendments to fund everything from infrastructure and maintenance to research projects.
As we were finishing this issue, news arrived of the death of philosopher Luiz Henrique Lopes dos Santos, who served as this magazine’s scientific coordinator for 21 years. It is difficult to describe his importance in shaping the publication’s identity. His legacy includes a commitment to accuracy and high-quality writing and to balancing scientific rigor with journalistic clarity for a broad audience. In addition to his obituary, I invite you to read (or reread) the interview published in May (see Pesquisa FAPESP issue nº 351), which he gave before being diagnosed with cancer. He spoke with a rigorous logic and a sharp sense of irony.
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