A group of Cardiff University scientists has discovered a new method of killing breast, prostate, lung, and other forms of cancers in laboratory tests.
The discovery of a new kind of immune cell receptor could pave the way for a new type of T-cell cancer therapy that can attack a diverse range of cancers in human patients without requiring tailored treatment.
According to findings published in Nature Immunology by the Cardiff University scientists, the discovery has not been tested on human patients yet.
They further explain it possesses “enormous potential,” and although works are still at an early stage, they were very excited.
About Cardiff University scientists discovery
T-cells are a type of white blood cell involved in the function of our immune system.
When T-cells are activated by coming into contact with defective or foreign cells in the body, they attack them, helping us fight off infection and disease.
In T-cell therapy, the most common form of which is called Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells (CAR-T), scientists hijack and augment this natural function of T-cells to steer them towards tumor cells in particular.
In CAR-T treatments, Cardiff University scientists extracted T-cells from patients’ blood, genetically engineering them in the lab to make them specifically identify and target cancer cells.
The edited T-cells are then multiplied in the lab before being administered to patients.
Notably, some of the limitations of the CAR-T technique are that the edited T-cells are only able to recognize a few kinds of cancer.
Additionally, the entire therapy needs to be personalized for different people because of a T-cell receptor (TCR) called human leukocyte antigen (HLA).
HLA is what enables T-cells to detect cancer cells, but it varies between individuals.
Lab test on mice subject
The Cardiff University scientists write in their published paper that tests using human cells were performed in the laboratory.
According to his report, the MR1-equipped T-cells “killed the multiple cancer cell lines tested (lung, melanoma, leukemia, colon, breast, prostate, bone, and ovarian) that did not share a common HLA.
Cardiff University scientists conducted tests upon mice, in which the mice were injected with the MR1 cells revealed evidence of cancer regression, and led to the mice living longer than controls.
Right now, we don’t yet know how many types of cancers a technique based on this receptor might treat. That said, the early results indeed suggest a diverse range could be susceptible, according to the study.
If these sorts of effects can be replicated in humans, we could be looking at a bright new future for T-cell treatments, experts say.
Expert’s opinions
Lucia Mori and Gennaro De Libero, from the University of Basel in Switzerland, said the research had “great potential” but was at too early a stage to say it would work in all cancers.
They further expressed their excitement over the immunological functions of this new T-cell population and the potential use of their TCRs in tumor cell therapy.
Daniel Davis, a professor of immunology at the University of Manchester, said currently, this is fundamental research and not close to actual medicines for patients.
He explained that there is no question that it’s a fascinating discovery, both for advancing our basic knowledge about the immune system and for the possibility of future new medicines.
Alasdair Rankin from blood cancer charity Bloodwise said the research represents a new way of targeting cancer cells that is quite exciting.
He noted that much more research is needed to understand precisely how it works and how best to utilize it.
Senior researcher and cancer immunotherapy specialist Andrew Sewell said Cancer-targeting via MR1-restricted T-cells is an exciting new frontier that many other scientists can’t wait to explore.
According to him:
It raises the prospect of a single type of T-cell that could be capable of destroying many different types of cancers across the population.
