A synthetic molecule can improve the response of some cancer patients to immunotherapy

A synthetic molecule is expected to improve the response of some cancer patients to immunotherapy

Molecules expressed by cancer cells can target receptors and inactivate anti-cancer T cells

Ganesh Namasivayam Pandian of the Institute of Integrated Cell Material Science (iCeMS) at Kyoto University added: “One of the main reasons for this non-response is that these patients have insufficient T cells, and these T cells will also be depleted because they do not have enough.

The team hopes to find a way to increase mitochondria in T cells to improve the response of cancer patients to PD-1 blockade monotherapy

To do this, Sugiyama and his colleagues used a compound called pyridine-imidazole polyamide (PIP), which can be programmed to specific DNA sequences

The research team found that EnPGC-1 activated the mitochondria of mouse T cells in the laboratory, which led to an increase in the number of T cells and their longevity

Then, they combined EnPGC-1 with PD-1 blocking immunotherapy to treat tumor-bearing mice, and found that this strategy enhanced the mice's anti-tumor immunity and improved their survival rate

Madhu said: "Because it is well known that PGC-1 signaling is essential for energy metabolism, EnPGC-1 also has the potential to be developed as a drug for the treatment of other diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and hyperlipidemia

Ganesh added: "Before clinical trials of this method, further improvements are needed

DOI:

Article title

Targeted Epigenetic Induction of Mitochondrial Biogenesis Enhances Antitumor Immunity in Mouse Model