Bioengineers from Rice University successfully destroyed ovarian and colorectal cancer at advanced stages in lab mice in as little as six days.
The treatment may be prepared to be administered in clinical trials with humans later this year.
For the purposes of the study, the researchers used implantable so-called drug factories with a size of a pinhead that administered continuous and high doses of interleukin-2.
This natural compound activates the white cells to fight against cancer.
These beads can be implanted with a minimally-invasive procedure. Each bead has cells that are engineered to produce interleukin-2 and they’re placed inside a protective shell.
A High Hope Treatment for Patients with Ovarian & Colorectal Cancer
The treatment and the results from the lab animal tests were described in the Science Advances journal study that’s co-authored by Omid Veiseh, Amanda Nash, and colleagues from Rice, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the University of Virginia, and others.
Veiseh is an assistant professor of bioengineering and his lab produced this innovative treatment. He explains that the current human clinical trials may begin as soon as this fall due to the team’s focus design criteria being providing help to cancer patients as fast as possible.
The team included elements that have proven to be safe for use in humans and have shown the new treatment’s safety in several tests.
He explains that the administering is done once, but the drug factories produce the dose daily where it’s necessary until the cancer is removed.
When they determined the exact dosage (how many factories are necessary), they managed to cure the tumors in 100 percent of the animals with ovarian cancer and in seven of the eight animals with colorectal cancer.
In the study, the researchers put the drug-producing beads beside tumors and in the peritoneum, a sac-like lining that supports the ovaries, intestines, and other organs in the abdomen.
The placement in this cavity concentrated interleukin-2 in the tumors and reduced the exposure elsewhere.
According to Dr. Amir Jazaeri, professor of gynecologic oncology and reproductive medicine at MD Anderson, immunotherapy’s biggest challenge is elevating tumor inflammation and anti-tumor immunity while avoiding the side effects of cytokines and other pro-inflammatory drugs.
Jazaeri notes that they’ve shown that the drug factories provide a local administration of interleukin-2 and the removal of tumors in various mice models and this is exciting news and a strong base for clinical tests.
What Is Interleukin-2 & Why It Is so Important in Cancer Treatment?
Interleukin-2 is a cytokine. This protein is used by the immunity in the recognition and fight against illnesses.
Nash, a graduate student from Veiseh’s group and the lead author of the study emphasizes that the drug factories trigger a more potent immune response than the current interleukin-2 treatment regimens due to the higher concentration of the protein delivered to the tumors.
On the other hand, if the same protein concentration were to be pumped through an IV, it would be toxic, according to Nash.
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