E. Shyam P. Reddy, Professor and Director of the Cancer Biology Program, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Morehouse School of Medicine, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Scientists have found a way to turn cancer’s own immune bodyguards into weapons against it
Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed an experimental immunotherapy that tackles metastatic cancer in an unexpected way. Rather than attacking cancer cells themselves, the treatment focuses on the cells that surround and shield them.
The findings were published in Cancer Cell, a Cell Press Journal. The therapy was tested in aggressive preclinical models of metastatic ovarian and lung cancer, and the results point to a potential new strategy for treating advanced solid tumors.
Breaking Through Cancer’s Immune Shield
The concept draws inspiration from the Trojan horse. Instead of trying to force its way into tumors, the therapy gains entry by targeting macrophages, immune cells that act as guardians for cancer cells. By disabling these protectors, the treatment opens tumors to an immune attack, allowing the body’s defenses to enter and destroy the cancer.
Metastatic disease accounts for the majority of cancer deaths. Solid tumors such as lung and ovarian cancer have been especially resistant to many current immunotherapies. According to the researchers, one reason is that tumors actively suppress immune activity in their surrounding environment, creating a protective barrier around cancer cells.
‘What we call a tumor is really cancer cells surrounded by cells that feed and protect them. It’s a walled fortress,’ says lead study author Jaime Mateus-Tique, a faculty member in Immunology and Immunotherapy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. ‘With immunotherapy, we kept running into the same problem—we can’t get past this fortress’s guards. So, we thought: what if we targeted these guards, turned them from protectors to friends, and used them as a gateway to bring a wrecking force within the fortress.’ “
Title: Armored macrophage-targeted CAR-T cells reset and reprogram the tumor microenvironment and control metastatic cancer growth
Authors: Jaime Mateus-Tique; Ashwitha Lakshmi; Bhavya Singh; Rhea Iyer; Alfonso R. Sánchez-Paulete; Chiara Falcomatà; Matthew Lin; Gvantsa Pantsulaia; Alexander Tepper; Trung Nguyen; Angelo Amabile; Gurkan Mollaoglu; Luisanna Pia; Divya Chhamalwan; Jessica Le Berichel; Hunter Potak; Marco Colonna; Alessia Baccarini; Joshua Brody; Miriam Merad; Brian D. Brown
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