In a new study, researchers found a new therapy could stimulate immune cells to shrink or kill tumors.
The therapy is effective alone or in combination with existing cancer immunotherapies, and it appears to have lasting effects.
The therapy was developed by Yale researchers.
The research team examined whether a synthetic RNA molecule developed to fight viruses could also trigger an immune response against tumors.
The molecule, called Stem Loop RNA 14 (SLR14), was specifically designed to activate a gene that detects viruses and other threats in cells.
The team’s idea is to mimic a viral infection inside the tumor, tricking the immune system into thinking there is an infection and getting rid of it.
To test this theory, the researchers experimented with several different approaches.
They injected SLR14 directly into tumors in mice and observed the destruction of cancer by the immune system’s powerful T cells.
When they delivered the therapy to one site on a tumor, it also stimulated T cells to respond at a different site, suggesting a broad effect.
In another experiment, they mimicked cancer metastasis by spreading the tumor cells throughout the body by injecting them through the left ventricle of the heart.
The results demonstrated that SLR therapy in solid tumors could block further growth of metastatic cancer.
Further experiments showed that SLR14 is comparable to existing cancer immunotherapy drugs, and could enhance their anti-tumor response.
The team says it has a significant effect as a single therapeutic agent, and when combined with current immune therapies, we see a synergistic effect.
The researchers also found that the immune system’s “memory” was induced by the therapy, protecting the animals from recurrence.
The next step in the research is to test the therapy alone, and in combination with other therapies, in human trials.
One author of the study is Yale investigator Akiko Iwasaki.
The study is published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
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