Lung cancer is the leading cancer death cause on a global level and non-small cell lung cancer makes up about 85% of all lung cancer cases. One of the most common treatment of NSCLC is to use immune checkpoint inhibitors to block certain protein that stops the immune system from killing cancer cells. Many patients undergo a combination of chemo and immunotherapies but those come with own side effects. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, have developed a new nanomedicine therapy that delivers anticancer drugs to lung cancer cells and strengthens the immune system to fight lung cancer. The recent findings have been published in Science Advances.
This new therapy works by bringing a nanoparticle filled with cancer-fighting drug to the tumor site and the antibodies attached to the nanoparticle bind to two different proteins which are CD47 and PD-L1. This approach helps both the innate and adaptive immune systems to locate and destroy cancer cells and at the same time, minimizing the toxicities associated with existing treatments of lung cancer. In their study, they screened over 80 human lung cancer patients’ tissue. After identification of proteins, they selected antibodies to target them and then, they functionalised the antibodies with nanoparticle that was already loaded with anticancer drug. The team of researchers performed a series of experiments to assess and visualize the binding of nanoparticle and drug delivery capabilities. They tested the efficiency in mouse models of two forms of lung cancer and found that their cancer cells internalized the drug. This leads to decrease in tumor size without causing any major side effects or toxicities.
Though the study provided promising results but the limitations include that the therapy has only been tested on human tissues in the lab and in mouse models. It needs to undergo much more exhaustive toxicology studies before moving on towards clinical trails.
The information shared in this blog is for educational purposes only.
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