A groundbreaking new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign indicates that CAR-T immune therapies could potentially treat solid tumors if the correct targets are identified.
Notably, the researchers were successful in using CAR-T in a mouse model of ovarian cancer. This type of aggressive, solid-tumor cancer has so far eluded such therapies.
The study was published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.
How Does CAR-T Therapy Work?
CAR-T therapies work by employing special molecular receptors, known as chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), which bind to cancer biomarkers.
T cells, a type of white blood cell in our immune system, use these CARs to target and attack the cancer in the patient’s body, treating it as if it were a foreign invader.
However, treating cancers that produce solid tumors with CAR-T immune therapies has proven challenging.
This is because solid tumor cells can suppress the immune response and evade recognition by T cells and other immune cells. Moreover, it’s hard to find a target on solid tumors that isn’t also found in healthy tissues.
Promising Results in Mouse Model
For this study, the researchers developed CAR molecules with varying affinities for a particular carbohydrate found on the surface of solid tumor cells, but not healthy cells.
They tested these molecules first in ovarian cancer cell cultures and then in live mice with ovarian cancer tumors.
The results showed that the receptors with the highest affinity for the carbohydrate were highly effective at helping T cells locate and destroy the cancer.
The tumors were shrunk or eliminated after just one intravenous or injected dose, with effects lasting for several months or even more than a year, prolonging the lives of the mice.
“This study shows that CAR-T can kill this type of cancer once it recognizes the right target,” said Diana Rose Ranoa, the study’s first author. “There are still a lot of questions to be answered, but the results are promising.”
The Next Steps
The researchers plan to test their CAR-T regimen against human cancer cell cultures and continue searching for other potential targets for solid-tumor cancers and the CARs that could find them.
David Kranz, the study’s leader, expressed optimism, stating, “In this mouse model there was such a potency that it hopefully can be translated to human patients.
To get something so specific against the tumor that doesn’t have major side effects for the patient, that’s the holy grail.”
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The study was published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.
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