United States: According to a study, researchers are using a novel strategy to transform cancer cells into effective anti-cancer agents. The study claims that researchers have created a brand-new cell therapy strategy to get rid of established tumours and promote long-term immunity, training the immune system to stop cancer from returning.

The findings from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the team of scientists tested their dual-action, cancer-killing vaccine in a sophisticated mouse model of the deadly brain tumour glioblastoma, with encouraging findings. The journal Science Translational Medicine published the findings.

“Our team has pursued a simple idea: to take cancer cells and transform them into cancer killers and vaccines,” stated corresponding author Mr. Khalid Shah, director of the Centre for Stem Cell and Translational Immunotherapy (CSTI) and the vice chair of research in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Brigham and faculty at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI).

“Using gene engineering, we are repurposing cancer cells to develop a therapeutic that kills tumour cells and stimulates the immune system to both destroy primary tumours and prevent cancer,” remarked Mr. Shah.

Numerous laboratories are working on developing cancer vaccines, but the study noted that Mr. Shah and his colleagues’ strategy is unique. The team repurposes living tumour cells because they have an uncommon property that makes them superior to inactivated tumour cells. Living tumour cells will travel vast distances throughout the brain to converge at the location of their partner tumour cells, much like homing pigeons returning to their nest.

Taking advantage of this unique property, Shah’s team engineered living tumour cells using the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 and repurposed them to release tumour cell killing agent, the study cited.

The team tested their repurposed CRISPR-enhanced and reverse-engineered therapeutic tumour cells (ThTC) in different mice strains including the one that bore bone marrow, liver and thymus cells derived from humans, mimicking the human immune micro-environment, as per the study.

According to the statement, “Shah’s team also built a two-layered safety switch into the cancer cell, when activated it eradicates ThTCs if needed. This dual-action cell therapy was safe, applicable, and efficacious in these models, suggesting a road map toward therapy.”

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