Two new monoclonal antibodies, anti-4-1BB and anti-CD40, that bind to different target molecules in the immune system and heighten the immune response to cancer have been developed by researchers at the Antibody and Vaccine Group who also investigated a third antibody known as anti-CTLA-4. Published in the July edition of Clinical Cancer Research, the study has shown that the antibodies boost the immune system to fight neuroblastoma -- a form of childhood cancer which grows from undeveloped tissue of the nervous system.
They found that 40 to 60 percent of the tumours treated with the stimulatory antibodies regressed in the laboratory models and ensured long-term survival. With more aggressive tumours, the antibodies alone did not significantly slow tumour growth, however, when the researchers paired one of the monoclonal antibodies with a cancer vaccine called Survivin a similar survival benefit was seen.
Dr Juliet Gray, Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Oncology and Cancer Research UK scientist at the University of Southampton, comments: "Although this work is still at a pre-clinical stage, we hope it has enabled us to identify a way that we can provide effective immunotherapy treatment against neuroblastoma. More research is needed to understand how these antibodies work and how they should be used to treat neuroblastoma."
"Six out of ten children with neuroblastoma can be successfully treated with conventional chemotherapy. But for those children who don't respond well to this treatment, immunotherapy could become a vital new treatment option."
The body's immune response is generally much weaker to cancer than it is to infections, and in most cases it does not stop tumours from growing. The body holds anti-cancer cells called T-cells, but cancer has the ability to switch off or subdue the immune recognition in these cells.
The antibodies are engineered to wake the T-cells up from their slumber and thereby restore the anti-cancer activity to attack the tumour. This process is already being used in adult trials for a range of cancers including skin, head and neck and pancreatic cancer. This pre-clinical data will allow Dr Gray and her team to design the first peadiatric clinical trials.
Advertisement
Cancer Research UK scientist, Professor Martin Glennie, Head of the Cancer Sciences at the University of Southampton, who also worked on the study, says: "We very much hope these results will enable us to develop a pioneering immunotherapy treatment for a childhood cancer. In theory this approach enables us to kill cancer cells without damaging healthy cells, resulting in fewer toxic side effects such as hair loss, nausea and tiredness."
Advertisement
Source-Eurekalert