Chapter 1456: Chapter 1084: A Sudden Clarity Chapter 1456: Chapter 1084: A Sudden Clarity Yang Ping’s office was filled with bizarre diagrams on the whiteboard, including structural drawings of NK cells and adenoviruses. He stared blankly at these drawings, completely lost in thought, to the extent that even if the sky were falling, he likely wouldn’t react at all.

He had grown accustomed to pondering problems in his office, where the lighting and air quality were quite good, and the soundproofing was excellent. Closing the door provided a quiet space, and generally, no one would come to disturb him. People from his own department would contact him via WeChat before coming to his office, only knocking on the door to enter after receiving confirmation, preventing any sudden, loud interruptions. Everyone knew that when Professor Yang holed up in his office, he was contemplating issues and wasn’t involved in other matters. When thinking, he loathed interruptions, as breaking his train of thought was infuriating; hence, everyone conscientiously refrained from intruding upon Professor Yang unless an emergency like a fire required urgent evacuation.

There are so many types of immunocytes in the human body. NK cells and T lymphocytes are only some of them. Yang Ping wondered if it wouldn’t be better to include other types of immunocytes in his research scope. In time, it would be clear which cells were more efficient and more amenable to transformation. Continuing this line of research could accumulate a vast amount of basic data on immunocyte therapy. Regardless of whether he achieved a groundbreaking success, it would lay a solid foundation for the future.

Viral therapy held much promise because viruses could invade the interior of human cells, an advantage immunocytes couldn’t match. After all, immunocytes are cells, and on a biological structural hierarchy, they are on the same level as tumor cells.

Viruses, however, are a step below cells in the biological structural hierarchy, corresponding to the same level as organelles within cells. Their greatest advantage lies in their relatively small size compared to cells, allowing them to penetrate the cell membrane and enter the cell’s interior. Theoretically, this makes viruses better equipped than cells to tackle tumor cells.

Between viruses and cells, the biggest advantage of cells is that they are the body’s own immunocytes, which won’t be attacked by the body itself, and they come with their own navigation devices and various weapons. Their biggest drawback is that they are on the same biological structural level as tumor cells. On the other hand, viruses’ main advantage is that they are on a lower biological structural level than cells, but their significant drawback is that they are always foreign entities, which must confront the immune system and lack innate weaponry, having to rely on genetic engineering to embed weapons.

Can these vector viruses be combined with immunocytes, transplanting fragments like the antigen receptors and tumor necrosis factors found on immunocytes onto viruses, and creating a new virus? This way, the virus could identify tumor cells just as immunocytes do, then penetrate and enter the tumor cells, and finally release substances like the tumor necrosis factor.

As he pondered this, Yang Ping had a sudden epiphany!

How had he not thought of this before? If such a combination were possible, who would need the K factor? Why should the research revolve around the K factor? It was unnecessary; the entire area of research would be broadened.

“At first, the path is narrow, barely fitting one person. Walk a few dozen steps more, and it opens up wide.”

Suddenly, it all made sense!

With this thought, Yang Ping felt as though he had passed through a narrow passage and entered into an expansive, open field.

The K factor–why did it appear when cultivating Sisi’s tumor cells in the laboratory? It was no coincidence; there had to be a reason. Previously, Yang Ping had contemplated focusing on how to use the K factor to treat tumors and intended to explore why it appeared in the culture medium when he had the time. Now, Yang Ping had found the reason; he had touched upon the essence of things.

Immune cells must have been mixed in while extracting Sisi’s tumor cells because the in vitro culture environment in the laboratory was custom-made for tumor cells. The immunocytes could not survive normally in the laboratory’s culture medium, and in the unique environmental conditions, they underwent changes. Cells died and disintegrated, but during this process, some fragments floated in the culture medium and combined to form the K factor.

Yang Ping’s thoughts turned to some hypotheses about the earliest life on Earth. Some scientists believe that the earliest organic molecules were related to lightning, with countless trillions of lightning strikes causing the release of phosphorous compounds.

The time should be about 3.5 to 4.5 billion years ago, when some simple but necessary compounds for life were released on Earth, laying the foundation for the subsequent birth of life. In short, all life on Earth is likely to have originated from lightning, since the olivine formed when lightning struck volcanic rocks contains phosphorus. Subsequently, large amounts of phosphorus accumulated in volcanic ponds and other bodies of water, where phosphorus could accelerate the formation of biological molecules.

The early Earth’s chemical substances mainly included water, ammonia, methane, etc., according to this hypothesis, and it was lightning that sparked these substances to react. To test this conjecture, in the early 1950s, Tanli Miller and Harold Urey from the University of Chicago conducted an experiment where they filled a sealed chamber with water and injected ammonia, hydrogen, and methane, then repeatedly used electric sparks to stimulate it, and after a week, they detected 20 different amino acids in the chamber’s contents.

Some scientists suggest that solar particles may be the cause of the early Earth’s life substances. However, whether it is lightning or solar particles, it is merely a difference in the triggering energy; what follows is the promotion of forming simple organic materials.

Isn’t the formation of the K factor similar to the formation of early Earth life? Although the formation of the K factor is much easier compared to the formation of early Earth organic matter, they are both a coincidental recombination.

Yes, this is the essence of the K factor. Yang Ping thought more and more clearly, like running along a dark tunnel continuously, until he saw a glimmer of light, and then he ran towards the direction of the light, which became brighter and brighter. Finally, a vast world of light appeared before him.

If that is so, then the K factor must be a combination of fragments from the human body’s immunocyte genes. If they are broken down by function, the same fragments can surely be found in the genomes of various types of immunocytes in the human body, Yang Ping proposed his hypothesis.

But is that really the case? This would require the K factor to be broken down into gene fragments based on function and then to be rigorously compared with the genomes of various immunocytes.

This is another big research topic! The thought process quickly cleared, improved, and matured.

Contact Lin Lan immediately, contact the heads of all the laboratories, and gather them together. Yang Ping wanted to launch a new study; the K factor is just a trinket, and the reason for its formation is the most worthy of study, the essence of all current research.

“Song Zimo, come to my office, immediately, right now!” Yang Ping immediately called Song Zimo.

As soon as Song Zimo heard the phone, he dared not delay, and immediately came to the director’s office. Yang Ping was leaning back in his chair, staring blankly at a diagram hung on the whiteboard; Song Zimo went over and asked, “Professor?”

Yang Ping did not speak, and a sense of unease began to beat in Song Zimo’s heart. The professor had called him over in such a hurry, and now he kept silent, had he made some mistake? His mind raced, all the recent surgeries had gone smoothly, with no complications, and there had been no errors in recent work.

“Professor!”

Yang Ping still did not speak.

Song Zimo’s heartbeats grew more and more rapid.