Nat Cancer: Immunotherapy treats rare eye cancers.

14, 2020 /--- -- In a recent article, researchers found that using a combination of CAR-T cells and immunologic drugs packaged in injectable gels could save the vision of mice implanted in human-origin retinal cell tumor tissue.
October 12, 2020, nature Cancer published the findings of scientists at the University of North Carolina's Lineberger University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
about 200-300 children are diagnosed with retinal scleoma each year in the United States.
it is a rare type of cancer.
currently, treatments for retinal scleoma include chemotherapy and radiation therapy, but vision is still not protected, so UNC researchers are looking for ways to preserve it.
First, the researchers experimented with chimic antigen-T (CAR-T) cell therapy, an immunotherapy in which T cells containing the immune system are modified in the lab to express the chisellular antigen-liker CARs that target proteins on the surface of cancer.
laboratory tests, they found that a molecule GD2 was expressed in retinal scleoma, but the likelihood of targeting the molecule to safely eliminate tumors in the eye is unclear.
Next, to test the safety and benefits of targeting GD2, the researchers injected CAR-T, a molecule identified with the molecule, into the retina of mice that had developed retinal cell tumor cancer cells, and found that the therapy delayed tumor development but did not eradicate the tumor.
, they combined CAR-T with lecirtin (IL)-15, a protein that enhances the immune response, and found that 60 percent of the mice had no tumors for up to 70 days.
, they injected water-based gels containing CAR-Ts and IL-15 into the retina of mice.
CAR-T and IL-15 retain the ability to attack cancer cells, control tumor growth and prevent tumor recurrence.
several imaging examinations of the retina confirmed the limited growth of the tumor.
This gel encapsulation therapy is currently being tested in clinical trials in children with neuroblastoma, an embryonic tumor that can develop rapidly and have the same genetic characteristics as retinal cell tumors.
(bioon.com) Source: Therapy using immune system cells preserves vision in mice implanted with rare cancer eye Source: GD2-specific CAR T cells encapsulated in an injectablegel control retinoblastoma and preserve vision, Nature Cancer (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s43018-020-00119-y.