[ad_1]
The new treatment increases the ability of white blood cells, macrophages, to kill unwanted invaders such as viruses and bacteria
Early tests in mice have shown that the therapy works in aggressive breast tumors and the skin, we read in the study published in the journal Nature .
According to the BBC, the US team responsible for the study wants to launch human trials in a few years. The fact that this new mechanism already has a license to use – the researchers say – can speed up the approval process of phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials.
Destroying macrophages
It is known that macrophages help to wipe out bacterial and viral infections, as they can recognize and attack "invading bodies". They are, however, unable to fight cancer, since tumors grow from human cells that have smart mechanisms to hide from immune system attacks.
Now, the team of Dr. Ashish Kulkarni of the University of Massachusetts and Harvard Medical School, was able to inhibit a protein that prevents macrophages from destroying certain types of cancerous tumors.
In other words, the mechanism used by Ashish Kulkarni prevents cancer cells from hiding from macrophages.
This technique developed by Harvard implies that macrophages still deposit a drug in the cancer cells, destroying them. In mice, the therapy prevented melanomas and breast cancer from developing and metastasizing.
"We realized that if we could rehabilitate macrophages and inhibit proteins … we could stimulate the balance of both types of macrophages [que temos]increasing its proportion in the tumor and inhibiting the growth of the macrophages. tumor, "says the lead author of the study in a note published on the university website
[ad_2]
Source link
