Scientists at ETH Zurich have made a breakthrough in designing immunotherapy off-the-shelf treatments for cancer. Fine-tuning of synthetic proteins allows immune cells from any donor to be administered to any patient without the risk of dangerous immune reactions.
The human immune system is a powerful first line defense against disease, but unfortunately cancer has some tricks that help it hide and avoid destruction. Immunotherapy is a new treatment that returns benefits to the immune system by overcharging the patient’s immune cells to seek out and destroy tumors.
Typically, the technology works by removing the patient’s own immune cells, genetically engineering them to better recognize cancer, and putting them back into the body. However, not only does this take time (many cancer patients do not take that long), but it is not always effective if the patient’s immune system is not working well.
Ideally, immune cells could be donated from healthy patients, but this is fraught with complications. After all, immune cells are experts at recognizing and attacking “foreign” cells.
In a new study, a team at ETH Zurich has found a way to potentially circumvent this problem, paving the way for standardized off-the-shelf immunotherapies. Scientists have targeted a specific molecular complex called TCR-CD3. TCR-CD3 resides on the surface of killer T cells and activates them towards specific antibodies, including both desirable triggers such as cancer and undesirable triggers in healthy cells.
The team created a synthetic version of the TCR-CD3 complex that could be further fine-tuned to target cancer cells while preventing killer T cells from attacking healthy cells. The tests in have looked promising so far, with no signs of a dangerous immune response.
While there is still much work to be done, including conducting trials in human patients, the research team said the research could ultimately lead to standardized, off-the-shelf products for treating cancer. I’m here. Remove, manipulate, and restore your own immune cells. This makes deployment to patients much cheaper, easier and faster.
The researchers have applied for patents and plan to create a spin-off company to bring the technology to market.
Source: ETH Zurich
