Promising advance in the fight against cancer and immune diseases

BarcelonaImmunotherapies have revolutionized the fight against cancer. Broadly speaking, they are treatments that stimulate our body's defenses to recognize and attack tumor cells. CAR-T (car-T) therapychimeric antigen receptor-T) is a very innovative type of immunotherapy through which adrugwith the patient's own cells: white blood cells (T lymphocytes) are extracted, genetically reprogrammed in the laboratory to recognize tumor cells, and then reinfused to neutralize the cancer. This approach has already proven successful with some types of blood cancer, but access is limited because they are complex and expensive therapies, as highly specialized medical equipment is required to generate the cells outside the patient's body. Now, American researchers have developed a new strategy in a study to generate these cells directly within the body, opening the door to making this type of therapy more accessible in the future.

The journal Science This Thursday, the journal Published the results obtained with this new technique, which uses small lipid spheres called lipid nanoparticles. These spheres carry a molecule called messenger RNA, like those used to make the first COVID-19 vaccines, which is capable of reprogramming the body's defenses to attack the tumor. Specifically, the researchers tested the strategy in mice and monkeys and found that once the nanoparticles are infused, the immune system is able to effectively eliminate cancer cells without needing to remove white blood cells from the patients' bodies, as is done so far with CAR immunotherapies.

In fact, in one of the primates participating in the study, a macaque monkey, the nanoparticles were administered intravenously and virtually eliminated all malignant cells for a month. They tested it at different doses, and even at medium doses, there were no "significant side effects," the authors state. Thus, the research team maintains that their study expands on the conclusions of previous works that had also studied nanoparticles as a vehicle for genetic treatments and demonstrates "the potential" of messenger RNA beyond vaccines and as a "promising" alternative to cellular manipulation.

Cells that do not survive

However, the authors also acknowledge limitations in their study, given that the treatment's effectiveness depends on the functioning of the patient's immune system. They warn that although patients with autoimmune diseases may be good candidates for this therapy, some cancer patients may have dysfunctional immune systems, which hinders treatment success. However, they assert that this approach may be "ideal" for treatments in which the modified cells do not need to remain in the body for a long time, as is the case with some autoimmune diseases or lymphomas.

So far, this immunotherapyhas been approved in Spainto treat leukemia and there are studies that evaluate its effectiveness againstbreast cancer, other blood cancers such as multiple myeloma,lymphomasandlupusIn addition, studies have shown promising results for this therapy in the treatment of brain tumors such as glioblastoma and neuroblastoma.