They study an oncological treatment that prevents metastases and reduces the tumor

Forty patients from the cities of Barcelona (Spain), New York (United States) and Toronto (Canada) have begun to test new drug that prevents tumor cells from growing and cause metastases or relapses. In addition, it activates the autoimmune system to reduce the tumor.

The new drug, developed at the Vall d'Hebrón Hospital in Barcelona, blocks the "LIF", a protein – present in many tumors – that promotes the proliferation of tumor stem cells.

The innovative drug, called for the moment "MSC-1", whose development reports Tuesday the magazine Nature Communicationsit has been successfully tested on animals.

The researcher who led the development of this new drug, Joan Seoane, explained: "We have discovered that LIF deactivates the alarm system so that the cells of the immune system do not reachas if a thief had turned off a bank's alarm system so the police would not arrive. "

According to the oncologist, "the drug generates a high response that eliminates the completely the tumor and generates an "immune memory", which means that the system is already trained to avoid relapse. "

Subtract more years of studies

However, he said: "It is still several years before this drug can reach all patients, because we are in the first phase of clinical trial.We will now study its effectiveness and its badociation with d & # 39; 39; other. "

The oncologist also argued that this new drug is not valid for all types of cancer, not just for those who express a high level of LIF, such as glioblastomas, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer and prostate cancer, which are usually the most aggressive and have the worst prognosis..

The drug, which has exceeded all successful preclinical phases, the first phase I clinical trial began with 40 patients treated at Vall d'Hebron Hospital (Barcelona), Sloan Kettering (New York) and Princess Margaret (Toronto).

Seoane said: "We are very proud because, understanding what was wrong, we were able to design and develop a drug that has arrived to more than 40 patients who are already testing"The specialist badured that" the combination of inhibition of LIF with immunotherapy it generates a powerful antitumour response. "