Nature Cancer: Dual-target immunotherapy can effectively control neuroblastoma

Researchers at the Reinberg Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina recently reported a newly developed immunotherapy that uses modified immune cells to lock and attack two antigens or foreign substances on cancer cells at the same time, which is useful for implanting human nerves.

The results of this study will be published in the journal Nature Cancer on September 23, 2021

Neuroblastoma is a type of cancer that develops from immature nerve cells, usually in children under 6 years of age

Hongwei Du, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, said: “The characteristic of tumor cells is the mixed expression of antigens.

The researchers used CAR-T cell (chimeric antigen receptor-T cell) immunotherapy, that is, collect immune system T cells from the patient and genetically modify them in the laboratory so that they can be re-infused in the patient's body Can identify the target on the surface of cancer cells

More importantly, they combined the recognition of two antigens with the expression of two costimulatory molecules: CD28 (a protein expressed on T cells after early activation) and 4-1BB (a protein involved in T cell survival and An important costimulatory protein for memory formation)

The researchers first observed neuroblastoma cells in the laboratory to see how they respond to the combined attack of immune cells

Gianpietro Dotti, the corresponding author of the article and co-head of the Reinberg Comprehensive Cancer Center, said: “We know that certain CAR-T therapies are safe for patients with solid tumors, but so far, the treatment has not brought us hope.

The researchers said that if this treatment is equally effective in humans, it may be more effective to target three or four antigens expressed by tumor cells

Dotti said: "We are currently conducting clinical studies to find several potential single targets

###

Hirabayashi, K.