Immunotherapy has shown promise in eliminating the microtumors that sometimes remain after cancer surgery, but the treatment’s effects on other parts of the body have raised concern.
Platelets could be the answer, researchers have discovered. The tiny blood cells, which gravitate to the surgical site to start the healing process, can be loaded with immune-checkpoint inhibitors to activate the immune system at the site. That approach will leave other organs and tissue unharmed.
The study, “In situ activation of platelets with checkpoint inhibitors for post-surgical cancer immunotherapy,” was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
“There has been tremendous interest in developing new, effective strategies to prevent cancer recurrence after surgery,” Zhen Gu, PhD, the study’s senior author, said in a press release. “Among them, cancer immunotherapy has received considerable attention.” Gu holds joint faculty positions at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, and North Carolina State University’s College of Engineering.
“But challenges remain in order for these [immunotherapy] inhibitor antibodies to be used effectively in patients,” said Chao Wang, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher on Gu’s team who was the lead study author. “Currently, the antibodies cannot target the tumor site effectively. The off-target antibodies and overdose usage of antibodies can cause side effects such as an autoimmune disorder, which can damage normal tissue cells.”
To overcome this problem, Gu’s team focused on developing a means to deliver immune-checkpoint inhibitors directly to residual tumors, rather than activating the immune system in a non-targeted way.
Link para a notícia: Immuno-Oncology News
