A single administered dose touted to eradicate cancer.
Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a innovative cancer treatment approach, involving a targeted injection that has shown success in eliminating tumors in mice.
The burgeoning pursuit of effective cancer treatments has been a prominent area of study in recent years, offering renewed hope consistently.
Some of the latest experiments include the use of cutting-edge nanotechnology to seek out microtumors, manipulating microbes to inhibit cancer cells, and starving malignant tumors to compromised growth.
The latest study from Stanford University School of Medicine, explores the potential of another promising approach: administrating minute amounts of two agents that stimulate the body's immune response directly into a malignant solid tumor.
Preliminary results using mice have proven positively. "When we combine these two agents," explains senior study author Dr. Ronald Levy, "we witness the eradication of tumors across the entire body."
This approach bypasses the need to pinpoint tumor-specific immune targets and avoids the extensive activation of the immune system or the customization of a patient's immune cells.
The researchers believe the method may proceed to clinic trials at a quicker pace, due to one of the agents involved already being approved for human therapy, while the other is already under clinical trial for lymphoma treatment.
The study was published yesterday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Dr. Levy specializes in the implementation of immunotherapy, a type of treatment that boosts the body's immune response to target cancer cells, to treat lymphoma.Various types of immunotherapies exist, some enhancing the entire immune system, others taking a more precise approach. However, they often come with drawbacks such as problematic side effects, lengthy treatments, or prohibitive costs.
The team's method, however, appears to be more advantageous, offering potential effectiveness as a treatment alongside benefits.
"Our approach employs a one-time application of minuscule amounts of two agents to stimulate immune cells only within the tumor," Dr. Levy explains. "This process enables immune cells to learn how to fight a specific type of cancer, which then allows them to navigate and destroy other existing tumors."
Despite the immune system's role in detecting and eliminating harmful foreign bodies, many types of cancer cells have found ways to evade this immune response. A type of white blood cell called T cells would usually target and combat cancer tumors, but cancer cells frequently find ways to deceive them and evade the immune response.
This new technique has been shown to be effective against multiple types of cancer. The researchers first applied this method to the mouse model of lymphoma, and 87 out of 90 mice achieved a cancer-free state. The remaining three mice exhibited recurrence of tumors, but treatment administered a second time caused the tumors to disappear.
Similar success was observed in the mouse models of breast, colon, and skin cancer. Even mice engineered genetically to develop breast cancer spontaneously responded favorably to this treatment method.
When two different types of cancer tumors (lymphoma and colon cancer) were transplanted in the same animal but only the lymphoma site was injected with the experimental formula, the results were positive. All lymphoma tumors receded, while the same was not true for colon cancer tumors, confirming that T cells only learn to combat cancer cells in their immediate vicinity prior to injection.
"This is a highly targeted approach," Dr. Levy notes. "Only the tumor sharing the protein targets displayed by the treated site is affected. We're attacking specific targets without needing to identify exactly what proteins the T cells are recognizing."
Currently, the team is preparing a clinical trial to test the treatment's effectiveness in individuals with low-grade lymphoma. If the clinical trial proves successful, the researchers hope to expand this therapy to a broad range of cancer tumors in humans.
"I don't believe there's a limit to the type of tumor we could potentially treat," Dr. Levy concludes, "as long as it has been infiltrated by the immune system."
- The latest study from Stanford University School of Medicine involves a promising approach for cancer treatment: administering minute amounts of two agents that stimulate the body's immune response directly into a malignant solid tumor.
- This approach may bypass the need to pinpoint tumor-specific immune targets and avoids the extensive activation of the immune system or the customization of a patient's immune cells.
- The study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, shows promise for various medical conditions, particularly lymphoma, but the researchers hope to expand this therapy to a broad range of cancer tumors in humans.
- The researchers believe the method may proceed to clinic trials at a quicker pace, due to one of the agents involved already being approved for human therapy, while the other is already under clinical trial for lymphoma treatment. In the realm of health-and-wellness and therapies-and-treatments, this could mark a significant advancement in the battle against cancer.
