Vanderbilt researchers are using technology to boost the fight against (Nanotechnology paves the way for cancer-fighting T cells) cancer by increasing the activity of tumor-attacking T cells. The groundbreaking research was recently published in the high-impact journal Immunology.
According to researchers, cancer combines both the immune system and the heart to increase their own growth. They do this in part by forming new blood vessels that supply the nutrients that are needed to rapidly spread cancer cells. Immune T cells also use blood vessels as a way to find and attack tumors. But the tumor vessels are often abnormal and form a barrier that prevents T cells from finding and killing cancer cells.
However, using nanotechnology developed in Vanderbilt‘s immunoengineering lab, researchers discovered that they could change – or normalize – malformed tumor vasculature by activating the interferon gene stimulator pathway (STING), part of the immune system. plays an important role in preventing viral diseases. and the development of cancer.
Jean T Wilson, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Vanderbilt and a corresponding author, said the technology’s ability to reshape the tumor’s vasculature could help make T cells more effective at eliminating cancer cells.
“This allowed T cells to effectively enter the body and destroy tumors in mouse models of kidney and breast cancer and improve the effectiveness of immuno therapies currently used in patients,” Wilson, who is also a researcher is the point. The immuno-engineering laboratory in the Chancellor’s department said, Comrade.
In the paper, the researchers also consider testing the STING-activating nanoparticle (STAN) technology in tumors that were surgically removed from patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). In line with the results of their mouse research, they found that STANs “showed high immunostimulatory activity”, providing “the first evidence supporting the potential of using STANs as a strategy to mobilize anti-inflammatory and vascular remodeling and human RCC”.
Such progress is important. This year, nearly two million new cancer cases and more than 600,000 deaths are expected to occur in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society.
“Although this technology is not yet ready for cancer patients, our research has revealed an exciting new strategy for improving the response to cancer immunotherapy,” said Wilson.
Source: Vanderbilt School of Engineering