Susanna Greer: Cracking Cancer’s Secret Code

Susanna Greer, Chief Scientific Officer at The V Foundation for Cancer Research and Leading Scientific Strategist and Cancer Researcher and Communicator, posted on LinkedIn:

“It’s Sunday afternoon and not freezing here in Atlanta. WhooHoo! I went on a long walk this morning with my dogs through my favorite neighborhoods and spied an awesome ‘fort’ on the way home…built I’m imagining (based on materials) to thwart off invasion by 3-10 year olds. An epic battle had occurred (based on the debris field of random socks, stuffies, and legos). It was awesome!

In a similar vein but more serious scenario, we can imagine a growing cancer as a similar fort, but one surrounded not by children’s toys and sticks and rocks, but by high walls and guard towers. Our immune system is like an army trying to break through and destroy the cancer, but the fortress has lots of defense mechanisms: traps, barriers, and incorrect signs that confuse and can ultimately weaken, the immune response.

Researchers have been trying (with good success!) to disable these defenses using immunotherapy, which works like a key to unlock the fortress gates. Immunotherapies, such as checkpoint inhibitors (we talked about two last week), have helped many patients, but unfortunately, cancers often find ways to rebuild its walls. Single treatments aren’t enough because cancer has multiple layers of protection.

This week I am sharing an the V Foundation funded study led by Dr. Sidi Chen and colleagues at Yale Cancer Center. Dr. Chen’s groundbreaking study offers a more powerful strategy: instead of using one key at a time, what if we could disable multiple defenses all at once? Enter MUCIG (Multiplex Universal Combinatorial Immunotherapy via Gene Silencing), an approach that works like a master hacker, rewriting cancer’s defensive code so the immune system can storm the fortress.

Dr. Chen and colleagues use a tool called CRISPR-Cas13d, which acts like a pair of molecular scissors and cuts messages inside cancer cells. These messages tell cancer how to suppress the immune system. By shutting down multiple key signals at the same time, MUCIG prevents cancer from rebuilding its barriers, allowing the immune system to destroy the tumor.

In lab studies their approach significantly shrank tumors by increasing immune cells in tumors while reducing cancer’s ability to send out ‘stay away’ signals. The results were stronger than using existing methods that target only one signal at a time.

What makes this approach stand out from other cancer treatments? Ie, why is this so cool? First, current immunotherapies focus on one weak spot at a time. This approach shuts down multiple defenses at once. Second, unlike traditional CRISPR methods that permanently alter DNA, this technique edits RNA, the messenger that carries instructions inside cells. That means it’s reversible and less risky. And finally, instead of just boosting the immune system, this method changes the entire battlefield (the area around the tumor), making the tumor more vulnerable to attack.

For cancer patients, this research could pave the way for more effective treatments, especially for those who don’t respond to current immunotherapies. While this research is still in early stages, it highlights the importance of funding developmental science research.

Discoveries like this start in the lab but lead to groundbreaking treatments that change lives. Without investment in innovative ideas, we risk missing out on the next big leap in cancer therapy.”

Read further about the study.