On the target.
When the vaccinia virus was delivered in CIK cells, it was evenly distributed throughout the tumor ( left ). For the virus comes alone, however, the distribution was uneven ( right ).
Thorne et al., Science
Researchers have eliminated metastatic cancer in mice by combining the top two candidates still in a new technique that packs a double whammy. The result - still a preliminary finding -. Illustrates the potential to improve the treatment of cancer through selling cancer killing virus on the back of an immune cell tumor targeting
Most current therapies against cancer, such as chemotherapy, can not be said of those healthy cells cancerous. Therapies based on immune cells, which target the particular tumor molecules, are more specific, but they are not effective against a variety of tumors. As a result, cancer biologists have turned to a new strategy called targeted biologic therapy, in which cancer killer virus are combined with immune cells. Once the immune cell is locked on a tumor, the virus bursts and destroys cancer cells. Find an immune cell that targets a variety of tumors and a virus that does not release too early, however, has been a challenge.
Now virologists at Stanford University led by Steve Thorne and Christopher Contag met this challenge by finding the best candidates for the job. First, they identified a type of immune cell, known as a cytokine-induced killer (CIK), which has a taste for many types of tumors. Then, for the cargo, they chose the vaccinia virus. Long used as a vaccine against smallpox, vaccinia patiently waits until 72 hours before busting. That's enough time for immune cells to find even the most hidden tumor. In other immune cells, vaccinia will pop in as little as 4 hours. The team system has another advantage: the CIK cells dig deep into tumor tissue; this means that the virus should not harm surrounding healthy cells.
When the researchers tried the system mounted on cancer mice, the cells CIK forehand for tumors. Two days after injection, the vaccine was deeply replicate inside tumor and was barely detectable in other parts of the body, today reports the team in Science . Of the eight mice that received this therapy, all fully recovered from their tumors. In a separate group of mice, injection of CIK virus without the long-term survival for another week; Only virus recovered only two of eight mice tested. That's still a small sample, but this is the first time that researchers have managed to create a system that works in a clinical setting.
"This is an excellent example of how cancer therapies in combination may have additive effects," says Inder Verma, a geneticist at the Salk Institute in San Diego, Calif. "I think this is the way to future treatments against cancer. "Although the team of Stanford believes that the vaccinia virus and the CIK cells are the best available at this time," it is possible that further investigation will produce improvements in this system, "said Contag.
Related site
- More on targeted cancer therapies
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