A team of Indian origin gives new immune cell sting

A team of US-born scientists found a way to treat cancer cells that deceive the immune system to avoid destruction, paving the way for a new therapeutic method that would enhance the ability of immune cells to search for and destroy The feat accomplished by researchers led by Ashish Kulkarni of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Mbadachusetts and Shiladitya Sengupta of Harvard Medical School may give immune cells a new sting in their fight against cancer cells. [19659002] The results of the study, reported in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering on Monday, conducted by scientists of Indian origin, including one who works with a cancer research company based in New Delhi, Invictus Oncology. [19659002] Macrophages – immune cells that engulf and digest particles and pathogens – also help destroy cancer cells. But in many cancers, macrophages play a paradoxical role: a clbad of macrophages – called M1 – causes the immune system to act, while another subtype – M2 macrophages – prevents inflammation.

Researchers discovered that cancer cells by macrophages in two ways – by converting M1 immune cells into tame M2 macrophages and sending a "do not eat me" signal that misleads M1 macrophages by letting them be.

Kulkarni and Sengupta and their compatriots at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) of Harvard Medical School have developed a treatment that provides a double-knock to knock out both mechanisms.

"Clinicians increasingly realize that a single drug or a single approach is not enough to fight cancer, and that a combined immunotherapy, such as blocking two separate targets in the same cell immune, is the future of immuno-oncology. Kulkarni, originally from a small town in Maharashtra and having studied at the Mumbai Institute of Chemical Technology, and his colleagues in 2014-2015 designed supramolecules – therapeutic products constructed from component molecules that click together like building blocks. To revitalize macrophages, the team has designed a supramolecule that could block the "do not eat me" signal that cancer cells can produce and simultaneously inhibit signaling that converts macrophages to the M2 subtype.

Supramolecular Therapy

Therapeutic models in animal models of aggressive forms of bad cancer and skin cancer, comparing their drug directly with a drug currently available in the clinic. Untreated mice formed large tumors at day 10. Mice treated with currently available therapies showed a decrease in tumor growth. But mice treated with the new supramolecular therapy had complete inhibition of tumor growth. The team also reported an increase in survival and a significant reduction in metastatic lymph nodes.

"We can see macrophages eating cancer cells," said Sengupta, who founded Invictus Oncology, along with Raghunath Mashelkar, former executive director of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The researchers plan to continue testing the new therapy in preclinical models to evaluate safety, efficacy, and dosage. The supramolecular therapy they have designed has been approved and they hope to bring treatment into clinical trials in the coming years if preclinical testing continues to show promise.