A single dosage may potentially eradicate cancer cells.
Rewritten Article
Driving innovation in the battle against cancer, scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have developed an intriguing treatment approach: a targeted injection that's already wiped out tumors in mice.
Boosting cancer research to develop more effective treatments has been a bustling sector lately, offering promise at every turn.
Latest experiments involve top-tier nanotechnology to seek out microscopic tumors, engineering microbes to stymie cancer cells, and starving malignant tumors to death.
The newest study, spearheaded by Dr. Ronald Levy, from Stanford University School of Medicine in California, explores a fresh approach: injecting just the tiniest amounts of two stimulants that trigger the body's immune response directly into a malignant solid tumor.
So far, their experiments with mice have yielded positive results. According to Dr. Levy, "When we use these two agents together, we observe the depletion of tumors all over the body."
This method bypasses the need to locate tumor-specific immune targets or fully activate the immune system, while circumventing the need for personalized patient immune cell customization.
Moreover, the researchers anticipate a speedy path toward human clinical trials for this method, as one of the components has already been approved for human use, and the other is currently under trial for lymphoma treatment.
The team's research was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine yesterday.
One-and-done formula application
As an expert in utilizing immunotherapy to combat lymphoma, Dr. Levy believes in enhancing the body's immune response to target cancer cells.
Various immunotherapy techniques exist, with some boosting the entire immune system and others harnessing a more targeted approach. However, they often come with drawbacks, such as problematic side effects, time-consuming treatments, or exorbitant costs.
Dr. Levy's method, on the other hand, offers several advantages — beyond its possible efficacy as a treatment. He explains, "Our approach involves a one-time application of minuscule amounts of two agents that stimulate the immune cells exclusively within the tumor itself."
This targeted method educates immune cells on how to battle a specific type of cancer, enabling them to migrate and obliterate all existing tumors.
Though the immune system's main role is to detect and eliminate harmful foreign substances, many types of cancer cells can evade its detection by crafty mechanisms.
A type of white blood cell called T cells plays a crucial role in regulating the body's immune response. Normally, T cells would target and kill cancer cells, but cancer cells frequently trick them and escape the immune response.
Effective against multiple kinds of cancer
In the new study, Dr. Levy and his colleagues delivered micrograms of two specific stimulants into one hard tumor site in each of the affected mice. The agents used were:
- CpG oligonucleotide, a synthetic DNA sequence that boosts immune cells' ability to express a receptor called OX40, which is found on the surface of T cells
- an antibody that binds to the receptor, activating the T cells
Once T cells are activated, some of them travel to different areas of the body, hunting down and demolishing other tumors.
Importantly, Dr. Levy and his team noted that this method could target various forms of cancer; in each case, the T cells would learn to manage the specific cancer cell type that they had been exposed to.
The researchers first applied this technique to the mouse model of lymphoma, achieving a remarkable 90% success rate. The other three mice that didn't become cancer-free saw tumors vanish when they underwent a second treatment.
Similarly positive results were achieved in the mouse models for breast, colon, and skin cancers. Even mice genetically engineered to develop breast cancer naturally responded well to this treatment method.
'Pinpointed treatment'
However, when scientists transplanted two distinct types of cancer tumors — lymphoma and colon cancer — in the same animal but only injected the experimental formula into a lymphoma site, the results were inconsistent.
All the lymphoma tumors receded, yet the colon cancer tumor did not respond in the same manner, confirming that the T cells only learn to manage cancer cells in their immediate vicinity before the injection.
As Dr. Levy explains, "This is an extremely targeted approach. Only the tumor sharing the protein targets displayed by the treated site is impacted. We're attacking specific targets without having to determine exactly what proteins the T cells are recognizing."
Currently, the team is gearing up for a clinical trial to evaluate this treatment's effectiveness in humans with low-grade lymphoma. Dr. Levy hopes that if the clinical trial succeeds, this therapy can be extended to almost any type of cancerous tumor in humans.
"I don't think there's a limit to the type of tumor we could potentially treat, as long as it has been infiltrated by the immune system," says Dr. Levy in conclusion.
- The system developed by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers starves malignant tumors, holding promise as a treatment for various otherlymphomas, breast, colon, and skin cancers.
- Dr. Ronald Levy's one-time application of two stimulants targets immune cells exclusively within the tumor, educating them to battle specific cancer types and migrate to eliminate all existing tumors.
- The science behind this method involves CpG oligonucleotide, a synthetic DNA sequence that boosts the expression of the receptor OX40 on T cells, and an antibody that activates these T cells when they bind to the receptor.
- This targeted approach, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, can impact only the tumor sharing the protein targets displayed by the treated site, making it a pinpointed treatment.
- The effectiveness of this immunotherapy method against multiple medical-conditions such as cance has already shown strong results in preclinical trials, with a 90% success rate in mouse models of lymphoma.
- The B21C5626DB8640AD50Fae6B23D4D747B component of the treatment has been approved for human use, and the other is currently under trial for lymphoma treatment, promising a speedy path toward human clinical trials.
