Immunotherapy, an approach that seeks to stimulate the immune system to attack and destroy cancer cells, is a new field of research that has shown remarkable results in some patients. However, the overall fraction of patients who can benefit from immunotherapy is still very low, and researchers have been looking for ways to make this treatment modality work for a lot more patients.
Now, a team from Stanford University and MIT has developed a novel method through which the immune system can be primed to attack tumors in a way that could significantly improve response rates for more patients.
For their study, the team focused on glycans, sugar molecules that exist on cancer cell surfaces. Glycans act as brakes that hinder the immune system from attacking the tumor, and the research team looked for ways to deactivate this “brake” so that immune cells can have free reign to attack and destroy tumor cells.
The researchers leveraged lectins to make immune cells less susceptible to glycans. They created AbLecs, multifunctional molecules composed of an antibody targeting tumors, and a lectin. The purpose of the antibody targeting malignancies was to deliver more particles of the lectin to the tumor and enable immune cells, such as NK cells, to attack the tumor.
The team then tested their new molecule in the lab and when results were positive, they then tested the treatment on mice engineered to exhibit immune responses similar to those of humans. Again, tumor activity was suppressed in the mice treated with the AbLec molecules in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor. The control group was given the checkpoint inhibitor alone, and these controls developed metastases in their lungs unlike the mice that received both the AbLecs and cancer drug.
The researchers say their AbLecs are modular in that they can be changed to target different receptors of lectins, thereby making the approach feasible for different cancers in which lectin receptors are impeded by tumor-imposed “brakes.” The researchers could, for example, simply switch out the antibody used in a particular AbLec and replace it with another that hones in on a totally different type of cancer cell.
The team involved in this study has formed a company to further develop their AbLecs and progress their innovation to clinical trials. Their startup, Valora Therapeutics, joins the ranks of existing companies like Calidi Biotherapeutics Inc. (NYSE American: CLDI) that are involved in this exciting and rapidly-advancing field of cancer immunotherapy.
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