Could Cancerous Tonsil Cells Cure AIDS?
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SEPT.-NOV. Volume 6, ISSUE 1 Could Cancerous Tonsil Cells Cure AIDS? Joe Bisiani AIDS, also known as Acquired Immunodefi- T-cells usually help ciency Syndrome, has been a challenging virus to fight cancer, but if the cure. T-cells become can- AIDS is caused by HIV, a sexually transmit- cerous themselves, ted disease that causes the white blood cell count to they produce identical drop below 200. White blood cells are an important cells. Cancer cells be- part of the immune system. They stimulate the pro- come cancerous from duction of antibodies against diseases. a random mutation. AIDS puts you at risk for serious illnesses But if molecular biolo- since the immune system is down. To combat gists were to preserve AIDS, more T-cells need to be present within your the tonsils that are removed, they could manipulate body. T-cells are the white blood cells produced in the T-cells’ DNA to make them divide faster. your thymus gland. The problem is that the thymus Would this be safe? Since the tonsils are al- gland turns into fat once the body reaches puberty, ready removed from patients, a biologist could as- having produced all of the necessary T-cells for life pire to test the manipulation of T-cells in a labora- during childhood. tory. Once the scientists figure out how to make T- Normally, the number of T-cells produced in cells cancerous, they could stimulate them to divide those years would be enough for a typical lifespan quickly. This would still be safe because the cancer- but not for people who have HIV. Their white blood ous cells are out of the patients. cell count eventually drops below 200. Therefore, With these T-cells replicating at a fast rate, the thymus gland needs to still be present in order they could then be extracted, and through a blood to combat AIDS and HIV. transfusion, inserted safely into patients that have Fortunately, an Ohio State University study HIV and AIDS. From here, the T-cells can combat demonstrated that T-Cells may also be found in HIV at a fast rate and protect the body with a the tonsils. The tonsils are another part of the im- stronger immune system. The great thing with this mune system. A lot of people get their tonsils taken technique is that the manipulation of T-cells can be out due to an inflammation of the body tissue, safely changed genetically outside of the patients called tonsillitis. We could develop T-cells with the with Tonsillitis. removed tonsils by extracting some and making Who knows? Maybe cancerous cells and ton- them cancerous. This leads them to replicate quick- sils can stop a deadly virus and a white blood cell ly. deficiency. Now, at first, this may seem outlandish since Continued on page 3 Female Students On School Dress Teacher Feature Jackie Robinson, the U.N... Pg 16 Pg 18-19 Pg 23 Has Donald Trump Made a Constitutional Travel Ban? Skyler Goldberg Donald Trump issued his third travel ban on preme Court agrees, they will need to hear the case. September 24th, making the case against the previ- So do those changes make Travel Ban 3.0 ous ban moot. As a result, the Supreme Court constitutional? Immigration groups don’t think so. doesn’t need to hear it since the new ban rescinded Some have already filed lawsuits on the current ban. the old one. These include the American Civil Liberties Union Travel Ban 3.0, as some have called it, blocks and the Iranian Alliance Across Borders. immigration from eight countries: Chad, Iran, Lib- These groups point out that every country on ya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Vene- the list except North Korea and Venezuela is still zuela. The list does not include Sudan like the last predominantly Muslim. They dismiss Venezuela as two bans but adds Chad, North Korea and Venezue- a veneer since the ban only applies to officials and la. their families. They say the same for North Korea, as Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the De- travel was already limited. partment of Homeland Security recommended These critics think the ban still screams Mus- lim animus. They quote campaign promises of a “Muslim ban,” and say small changes don’t erase the clear line of intent. Some also believe the ban breaks internation- al treaties. They point to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Ra- cial Discrimination. These treaties forbid countries from making national origin a factor in immigration standards. Supporters of the ban, however, adduce a these countries after discovering that they don't pro- section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that vide all the information we use to vet. They have not gives the president absolute authority over immi- yet specified what that information is. gration. Opponents counter that a later amendment And the list of countries isn’t the only thing limited that authority. One of these limits, they say, Trump changed. Unlike the previous bans, Travel is the president may not discriminate based on na- Ban 3.0 gives the countries a way off the list. All tionality. they have to do is give us the information we've re- Supporters also argue that judges must keep quested. The other bans, in contrast, lasted for spec- the stated reason for the ban, protecting our coun- ified time periods no matter what the countries did. try, in mind. They don't think judges can invoke Also unlike previous iterations, this ban ex- campaign statements to find Muslim animus. They empts green card holders. So, people with permis- cite previous cases in which judges refused to look sion to live in the U.S. can still travel even if they beyond a president’s stated reason to find unlawful aren’t yet citizens. Trump changed this to avoid ar- discrimination. guments that the ban takes away people’s rights Legal scholars also argue about how good the without a trial. According to many legal scholars, president’s reason must be to justify the ban. Some immigrants abroad without green-cards aren’t pro- say it must meet what's called the strict scrutiny tected by trial. standard. But others think the rational basis stand- Strangely, this ban doesn’t say anything ard is enough. about refugees. Because nothing replaces the pas- According to Cornell's legal dictionary, ra- sages in the second ban that address the refugee is- tional basis means the law Continued on page 4 sue, some lawyers say they still apply. If the Su- must “have a legitimate state Life or Medical Fact John Mari A child’s life means more than medical facts, DNA for his mitochondria. However, he remarked or the medical facts will decide a child’s life. Those that it was “a theoretical possibility” that the thera- were the opposing arguments in what became a py would provide some positive assistance only be- controversial battle to keep a young British infant cause at that time, Charlie did not have severe alive after it was discovered that he had a terminal structural brain damage. Time progressed and, by illness. Jan. 9, Charlie’s condition worsened, causing epi- The parents of young Charlie Gard wel- leptic seizures which induced additional brain comed him into the world in August 2016. He was damage. breathing and developing normally. But after a few In late January, the hospital staff began dis- weeks, his par- cussing with Charlie’s parents that he should be ents, Chris Gard, pulled off of life support. They disagreed with the and Connie hospital staff, and that was the beginning of their Yates, began to movement. By the end of April, donations on a Go- notice subtle FundMe page set up by Charlie’s parents to send signs of illness. him to the United States for the experimental treat- They were feed- ment had exceeded $1.7 million American dollars. ing him every However, relations between Mr. Gard and Ms. two to three hours, but he was not gaining any Yates and the British hospitals and courts further weight. And, he was becoming less and less able to deteriorated in June when the British High Court lift his head. Therefore, by October 11th, 2016, upheld the hospital’s decision that artificial life Charlie was so frail that he was moved to the Great support should be withdrawn. The hospital readied Ormond Street Hospital in London and was put on themselves for executing the court’s judgement, a ventilator machine. but allowed Mr. Gard and Ms. Yates more time By November, doctors at the hospital, with their son before his potential death on June through genetic testing, determined that Charlie’s 30th. protein sequences were consistent with the genetic This was the time, in early July of this year, disorder called Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syn- that this story began to seize the eyes of people on drome. In short, this was caused by a mutation in an international scale. Mr. Gard and Ms. Yates’ one of Charlie’s genes that operated the mitochon- struggle to save their son from losing life support dria, or energy manufacturers, in his cells. Without was supported by human rights activists world- the genes properly functioning, the symptoms that wide, including Pope Francis of the Roman Catho- follow are dire including brain damage, paralysis, lic Church who stated that human life should be muscle weakness, organ failure, and eventually protected. Protests in favor of Charlie ensued death, likely during infancy.