Cancer Treatment New drug eliminates lethal cancer metastases in the body

Combining two drugs could revolutionize the treatment of cancer

Researchers have succeeded in injecting two immunostimulating substances directly into solid tumors. As a result, metastases were eliminated and even completely removed. The new method could lead in the future to an effective treatment of cancer.

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine found that tiny amounts of two immunostimulating drugs can be injected directly into solid tumors to remove metastases. The physicians published the results of their study in the English-language journal "Science Translational Medicine".

Can a simple injection cause cancerous metastases to be destroyed throughout the body? (Image: Africa Studio / fotolia.com)

Side effects could be avoided by the treatment

In the researchers' work, injection into mice caused all traces of cancer in the animals to be eliminated, including untreated metastases, the authors explain. The approach works for many different types of cancer, including those that arise spontaneously. The medical community believes that local application of very small amounts of the drugs could serve as a quick and relatively inexpensive cancer treatment. Unpleasant side effects of the body-wide immune stimulation could probably be avoided by the treatment, the researchers add.

Combining the agents removes tumors throughout the body

"Using these two remedies together, we see the elimination of tumors throughout the body. This approach avoids the need to identify tumor-specific immune targets and does not require comprehensive activation of the immune system or adaptation of a patient's immune cells, "explains study author Dr. Ronald Levy in a press release from Stanford University School of Medicine.

New study analyzes the effectiveness in humans

One active substance is currently approved for human use, while the other has been tested in several independent human trials. A clinical trial started in January to test the effect of treatment in patients with lymphoma. Dr. Levy is considered a pioneer in the field of cancer immunotherapy. Research conducted in his laboratory has already led to the development of rituximab, one of the first monoclonal antibodies approved for anticancer treatment in humans.

How do immunotherapies work??

Some immunotherapies are based on stimulating the immune system throughout the body. Others target naturally occurring control points that limit immune cell anticancer activity, the researchers explain. Still others, such as CAR-T cell therapy, which has recently been approved for the treatment of some types of leukemia and lymphoma, require removal of a patient's immune cells from the body. These are then genetically modified to attack tumor cells.

The effects on the tumors were amazing

"Our approach uses a single application of very small amounts of two drugs to stimulate immune cells only within the tumor itself. In the mice, we observed amazing, body-wide effects, including the elimination of tumors throughout the animal, "Dr. Levy.

When tumors grow, they suppress the activity of T cells

Cancer often exists in a strange kind of limbo in relation to the immune system. Immune cells (such as T cells) recognize the abnormal proteins that are often present on cancer cells to attack the tumor. However, as the tumor grows, ways to suppress T cell activity are often found.

87 out of 90 mice were cured by the treatment of cancer

Because the two drugs are injected directly into the tumor, only T cells that have infiltrated them are activated. Some of these tumor-specific, activated T cells then leave the original tumor to find and destroy other identical tumors throughout the body, the physicians explain. The approach works surprisingly well in laboratory mice with transplanted mouse lymphoma tumors in two places in their body. Injection into a tumor not only caused regression of the treated tumor, but also of the second, untreated tumor. In this way, 87 out of 90 mice were cured of cancer. Although the cancer reappeared in three of the mice, the tumors regressed after a second treatment. The researchers observed similar results in mice with breast, colon and melanoma tumors. "I do not think there's any limit to the type of tumor we could potentially treat as long as the tumor was infiltrated by the immune system," said Dr. Levy in the press release. (As)