
This graphic demonstrates how STING-NPs enhance uptake of cGAMP. (Jennifer Fairman/Fairman Studios)
New research builds on Nobel-winning immune checkpoint blockade work
Immunotherapy’s promise in the fight against cancer drew international attention after two scientists won a Nobel Prize this year for unleashing the ability of the immune system to eliminate tumor cells.
But their approach, which keeps cancer cells from shutting off the immune system’s powerful T-cells before they can fight tumors, is just one way to use the body’s natural defenses against deadly disease. A team of Vanderbilt University bioengineers today announced a major breakthrough in another: penetrating tumor-infiltrating immune cells and flipping on a switch that tells them to start fighting. The team designed a nanoscale particle to do that and found early success using it on human melanoma tissue.
“Tumors are pretty conniving and have evolved many ways to evade detection from our immune system,” said John T. Wilson, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and biomedical engineering. “Our goal is to rearm the immune system with the tools it needs to destroy cancer cells.
“Checkpoint blockade has been a major breakthrough, but despite the huge impact it continues to have, we also know that there are a lot of patients who don’t respond to these therapies. We’ve developed a nanoparticle to find tumors and deliver a specific type of molecule that’s produced naturally by our bodies to fight off cancer.”
That molecule is called cGAMP, and it’s the primary way to switch on what’s known as the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway: a natural mechanism the body uses to mount an immune response that can fight viruses or bacteria or clear out malignant cells. Wilson said his team’s nanoparticle delivers cGAMP in a way that jump-starts the immune response inside the tumor, resulting in the generation of T-cells that can destroy the tumor from the inside and also improve responses to checkpoint blockade.
While the Vanderbilt team’s research focused on melanoma, their work also indicates that this could impact treatment of many cancers, Wilson said, including breast, kidney, head and neck, neuroblastoma, colorectal and lung cancer.
His findings appear today in a paper titled “Endosomolytic Polymersomes Increase the Activity of Cyclic Dinucleotide STING Agonists to Enhance Cancer Immunotherapy” in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Daniel Shae, a Ph.D. student on Wilson’s team and first author of the manuscript, said the process began with developing the right nanoparticle, built using “smart” polymers that respond to changes in pH that he engineered to enhance the potency of cGAMP. After 20 or so iterations, the team found one that could deliver cGAMP and activate STING efficiently in mouse immune cells, then mouse tumors and eventually human tissue samples.
“That’s really exciting because it demonstrates that, one day, this technology may have success in patients,” Shae said.
Learn more: Nanoparticle targets tumor-infiltrating immune cells, flips switch telling them to fight
The Latest on: Cancer Immunotherapy
via Google News
The Latest on: Cancer Immunotherapy
- The Denvax Clinic Offering Dendritic Cell Therapy for the Effective Treatment of Canceron January 19, 2021 at 9:05 pm
The Denvax Clinic is helping the cancer patients by way of its Denvax treatment, which is the customised dendritic cell-based cancer immunotherapy given to fight against cancer cells. This press ...
- Immunotherapy biotech NexImmune files for an $86 million IPOon January 19, 2021 at 1:42 pm
N exImmune, a Phase 1/2 biotech developing T cell immunotherapies for cancer, filed on Tuesday with the SEC to raise up to $86 million in an initial public offering. NexImmune is developing a novel ...
- Emerging Strategies Seek to Build on the Benefit Achieved With Radiation in Lung Canceron January 19, 2021 at 1:09 pm
Katie Keane, MD, highlights the evolving role of stereotactic body radiation therapy in the treatment of patients with stage I lung cancer, the utilization of immunotherapy with chemoradiation in ...
- Study predicts good passive immunotherapy donors to combat COVID-19on January 19, 2021 at 10:09 am
A US-based research team determine good candidates for convalescent plasma donations in promoting passive immunity among severely-ill COVID-19 patients.
- Unexpectedly, Immunotherapy Response Linked to Low TMB in rGMBon January 19, 2021 at 8:55 am
In contrast to what has been seen in other tumor types, recurrent glioblastoma (rGMB) appears to respond better to immunotherapy when tumor mutational burden (TMB) is low.
- Therapeutic Solutions International Reports Successful Treatment of Breast Cancer using StemVacs™ Cellular Immunotherapyon January 19, 2021 at 8:31 am
Therapeutic Solutions International, Inc., (OTC Markets: TSOI), reported positive animal data in the 4T1 breast cancer model using its clinically tested StemVacs™ cellular immunotherapy. In a series ...
- New immunotherapy cancer treatment given the green light on the NHSon January 19, 2021 at 12:03 am
Around 100 patients a year in England will be among the first in the world to get cutting-edge cancer treatment on the NHS after regulators approved the use of a new immunotherapy treatment. The (NICE ...
- Study may help develop more effective personalized immunotherapy for cancer patientson January 14, 2021 at 10:01 pm
New research from CU Cancer Center member Jing Hong Wang, MD, PhD, and recent University of Colorado Immunology program graduate Rachel Woolaver, PhD, may help researchers develop more effective ...
- Uma Thurman invests in cancer immunotherapy companyon January 13, 2021 at 11:04 am
Sensei Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company that opened a Boston R&D hub last year, has attracted high-profile investors for its $30 million Series B round.
- Cancer Immunotherapy Market Analysis with Key Players, Applications, Trends and Forecasts to 2025on January 11, 2021 at 3:45 am
Global Cancer Immunotherapy Market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of around 13% during 2020-25. Cancer immunotherapy has its extensive utilization in the treatment of blood cancer, prostate cancer, ...
via Bing News