A single dose may potentially eradicate cancer.
Cancer-Crushing Innovation:
Science is making strides in the fight against cancer by coming up with smart treatments, offering hope every step of the way.
Recent experiments include employing advanced nanotechnology to chase down microscopic cancer cells, developing microbes to combat cancerous cells, and starving tumors to death. Now, Stanford University in California is shaking things up with a novel approach: a targeted injection that's already shown promise in mice.
The revolutionary treatment stimulates the body's immune response directly within a malignant solid tumor. This clever trick isn't reliant on identifying specific immune targets or demanding a complete overhaul of the immune system.
Researchers, led by senior study author Dr. Ronald Levy, have seen positive results in their mouse studies. According to Dr. Levy, "When we use these two agents together, we see the elimination of tumors all over the body."
Best of all, one of the agents used in this procedure has already been approved for human therapy, while the other is under clinical trial for lymphoma treatment. The study was published yesterday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
One-time Strike
Immunotherapy, used to boost the body's immune response and target cancer cells, is Dr. Levy's forte when it comes to battling lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system.
Although immunotherapy has potential, it often comes with drawbacks, such as problematic side effects, extended treatment duration, and high costs. However, Dr. Levy's method has a competitive edge – it requires a single application of minimal amounts of two agents to stimulate immune cells within the tumor itself.
"Our approach 'teaches' immune cells how to fight against that specific type of cancer," Dr. Levy explains, "allowing them to migrate and destroy all other existing tumors."
Though the immune system is designed to combat harmful foreign substances, many types of cancer cells manage to outwit it. A type of white blood cell called T cells normally target and annihilate cancer cells, but cancer cells often learn to deceive them.
Versatile Warfare
Thinking ahead, Dr. Levy and his team first tested this method on a mouse model of lymphoma, where 87 out of 90 mice achieved cancer remission. They repeated the process in models of breast, colon, and skin cancer, and even in mice genetically engineered to develop breast cancer spontaneously.
Curiously, when they implanted two different types of cancer tumors—lymphoma and colon cancer—in the same animal but injected the experimental formula only into a lymphoma site, the results were varied. Lymphoma tumors receded, but the colon cancer tumor did not.
This suggests that the immune cells only learn to deal with cancer cells in their immediate vicinity before the injection.
"This is a very targeted approach," Dr. Levy notes, "We're attacking specific targets without having to identify exactly what proteins the T cells are recognizing."
The team is now planning a clinical trial to test this treatment's effectiveness in people with low-grade lymphoma. If successful, they aim to extend this therapy to a wide variety of cancerous tumors in humans.
"I don't think there's a limit to the type of cancer we could treat, as long as it has been infiltrated by the immune system," Dr. Levy concludes.
This bold strategy leans on promising advancements known as dual-payload antibody-drug conjugates or ADCs. Dual-payload ADCs carry both cytotoxic agents and immune agonists, and their dual attack on cancer cells shows promise for overcoming drug resistance and improving treatment outcomes.
Dual-payload ADCs, such as KH815, which targets Trop2, a protein overexpressed in various solid tumors, are making their mark in preclinical models and may soon win battles against cancer in humans.
- This novel approach, being developed at Stanford University, involves a targeted injection that stimulates the body's immune response directly within a malignant solid tumor.
- The effectiveness of this treatment, as observed in the study conducted by Dr. Levy's team, shows the elimination of tumors not only in the injection site, but also throughout the body.
- To improve cancer treatment outcomes, science is focusing on immunotherapy that binds to immune cells, expressing the ability to teach these cells how to combat specific types of cancer effectively.
- In addition to lymphoma, this versatile immunotherapy warfare strategy has shown promise in treating a wide variety of other cancers, including breast, colon, and skin cancer.
- Health-and-wellness advancements such as dual-payload antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are crucial in overcoming drug resistance and enhancing the effectiveness of cancer therapies and treatments.
- KH815, an example of a dual-payload ADC that targets Trop2, a protein overexpressed in various solid tumors, is making significant strides in preclinical models and may soon revolutionize the medical-conditions landscape, leading to the development of effective treatments for multiple types of cancer.
