New cancer therapy hunts and destroys deadly tumors in major breakthrough study

Scientists at UCLA have developed an “off-the-shelf” cell-based immunotherapy that was able to track down and killpancreatic cancer cellseven after they had spread to other organs.

In a mouse study, the treatment slowed cancer growth, extended survival and remained effective even within the harsh environment of solid tumors.

“Even when the cancer tries to evade one attack pathway by changing its molecular signature, our therapy is hitting it from multiple other angles at the same time.The tumor simply can’t adapt fast enough,” lead author Dr.Yanruide Li, a post-doctoral scholar at UCLA, said in a press release.

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To build the therapy, researchers tookhuman stem cellsand turned them into a special type of immune cell called an invariant natural killer T cell (NKT cell).

Next, they genetically modified those cells by adding a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), which enables the cells to recognize and attack pancreatic cancer cells.

UCLA scientists created an off-the-shelf CAR-NKT cell therapy that killed pancreatic tumors in multiple pre-clinical models.(iStock)

NKT cells are naturally compatible with anyimmune system, which means they can enter the body without causing dangerous reactions, according to the researchers.They can also be mass-produced using any donated blood stem cells.

“One donor could provide sufficient cells for thousands of treatments,” potentially offering a more affordable and accessible approach, according to the press release.

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The team tested the therapy in several lab models.These included models where thecancer was placeddirectly into the pancreas and others designed to mimic how the disease spreads to other organs, like the liver and lungs.

The CAR-NKT cells were able to push their way into the tumor itself, rather than getting stuck on the outside like many immune treatments do, the researchers found.

Researchers emphasized that one dose could cost around $5,000, far lower than personalized CAR-T treatments.(iStock)

Once they got inside the body, these engineered immune cells could spotcancer cellsin several different ways and kill them using multiple built-in attack methods.

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Most importantly, they stayed active.Many immune cells that enter a solid tumor quickly become overwhelmed and shut down, but these engineered cells kept working instead of burning out, allowing them to continue fighting the cancer for a longer period.

The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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“Developing a therapy that targets both the primary tumor and its metastases inpre-clinical studies— one that can be ready to use off-the-shelf — represents a fundamental shift in how we might treat this disease,” said senior author Dr.Lili Yang, a professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at UCLA, in the same press release.

The researchers noted that one dose could cost around $5,000, far lower than personalized CAR-T treatments.

The therapy can be mass-produced from donor stem cells, potentially lowering cost and expanding access.(iStock)

Pancreatic cancer is notoriously aggressive and difficult to treat, according to the researchers.Most patients aren’t diagnosed until the disease has already spread, and the tumor’s biology creates multiple physical and chemical barriers that weaken the impact oftraditional treatments.

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Most patients aren’t diagnosed until the disease has already spread, and the tumor’s biology creates multiple physical and chemical barriers that weaken the impact of traditional treatments.(iStock)

Based on theearly findings, the UCLA researchers are preparing to submit applications to the Food and Drug Administration to begin human trials.

“We’ve developed a therapy that’s potent, safe, scalable and affordable,” Yang said in the release.“The next critical step is proving it can deliver the same results in patients we’ve seen in our preclinical work.”

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All testing so far has been done in mice, as the researchers noted thatsolid tumors in humansare far more complex.Human tumors can evolve and lose the targets that treatments are designed to recognize, raising the risk of the cancer escaping detection and continuing to grow.

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