A major scientific discovery is paving the way towards safer and more effective cancer treatments.
Experts from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed new "natural killer" cells (CAR-NK), capable of fighting cancer and minimizing the risk of serious side effects.
How CAR-NK cells work
Natural killer (NK) cells are part of the immune system and have the ability to destroy invaders without the need for prior "training" to recognize threats.
Similar to CAR-T therapy, which is already widely used in the treatment of several types of cancer, CAR-NK cells are genetically modified to directly target cancer cells.
But unlike CAR-T, CAR-NK cells run the risk of being rejected by the patient's immune system. For this reason, researchers in Boston created a new version of CAR-NK that manages to avoid this problem thanks to an additional genetic modification.
Results of the study
In laboratory tests, mice infected with tumors were injected with these new CAR-NK cells. The result was surprising:
The modified cells stayed in the body for three weeks and managed to almost completely eliminate the cancer.
Meanwhile, mice that received natural NK cells or standard CAR-NK cells lost them within two weeks and the tumors continued to spread.
Furthermore, these new cells proved to be less risky than CAR-T therapy, which is often associated with cytokine release syndrome (CRS) – a serious side effect that can cause damage to multiple organs.
What do scientists say?
“This process allows us to engineer CAR-NKs in a single step, which can avoid rejection by the immune system and at the same time kill cancer cells better – while being safer,” said Prof. Jianzhu Chen, co-author of the study and professor of biology at MIT.
The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications, used mice with immune systems similar to humans and focused on lymphoma — a type of blood cancer that affects the lymphatic system. In the U.S. alone, lymphoma affects about 90 people each year and causes 20 deaths.
Expectations for the future
The team believes this discovery could become a better alternative to CAR-T therapy. CAR-NKs are currently being tested in clinical trials for the treatment of lymphoma and several other cancers.
The researchers warn that the genetic modification used is relatively simple, which could make it possible to create "ready-to-use" cells for patients as soon as they are diagnosed - without the need for weeks of preparation, as is the case with traditional therapies.
The team is also working with a biotechnology company to test CAR-NK in the treatment of lupus, an autoimmune disease that affects over 1.5 million Americans and causes the immune system to attack healthy tissues and organs. /GazetaExpress/
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