Chinese scientists develop tumor-specific cancer treatment: here's all you need to know

Washington: Chinese scientists have developed a combined cancer treatment that can be specifically activated at tumor sites in mouse models of cancer, which is more effective than similar previous treatments.

The study published Friday in the journal Science Immunology has described the new cancer immunotherapy capable of preventing the immune system from becoming tumor-tolerant, which affects 30% of cancer patients, the Xinhua news agency reported.

A team led by Wang Dangge of the Shanghai Institute of Medical Materials of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Fudan has developed a common inhibitor of the immune control point in a formulation of nanoparticles highly specific to the tumor.

The checkpoint inhibitor is a type of antitumor medicine that is becoming more and more popular. It can block proteins that prevent immune T cells from killing cancer. But the checkpoint inhibitor used to target immune-inhibiting proteins such as PD-1 and PD-L1 often fails to reach deep or metastatic tumors.

Wang's team combined the nanoparticles carrying antibodies targeting PD-L1 with a light-activated molecule. According to this study, the molecule called photosensitizer can produce reactive oxygen species that kill tumors after encountering a tumor-rich protein.

In murine models, local radiation in the infrared that activated the photosensitizer, associated with the administration of antibody-bearing nanoparticles, promoted the infiltration of tumor cell killing T cells. in the tumor site and made the tumors more sensitive to blocking control points.

This combination also helped the nanoparticles to effectively suppress tumor growth and lymph node and lung metastases, which maintained about 80% of the mice in 70 days, compared to complete mouse death within 45 days. the group treated with anti-PD-L1 antibodies only. according to the study.