Life-changing cancer vaccine kills and prevents brain cancer

A dual action cell therapy designed to eliminate existing tumors and train the immune system to destroy the primary tumor and prevent cancer from recurring.. (CREDIT: Creative Commons)

Scientists are using a new way to turn cancer cells into powerful anti-cancer agents. In the latest work of the laboratory of Khalid Shah, MS, PhD, at Brigham and Women’s Hospitalfounding member Mass General Brigham health system, researchers have developed a novel cell therapy approach to eliminate existing tumors and induce long-term immunity by training the immune system so it can prevent cancer from recurring.

The team tested their dual-acting cancer-killing vaccine in an advanced mouse model of lethal glioblastoma brain cancer with promising results. Findings published in Science Translational Medicine.

“Our team pursued a simple idea: take cancer cells and turn them into cancer killers and vaccines,” said correspondent Khalid Shah, MD, director of the Center for Stem Cells and Translational Immunotherapy (CSTI) and vice chairman. research at the Brigham Department of Neurosurgery and faculty at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI).

“Using genetic engineering, we are repurposing cancer cells to develop a therapeutic agent that kills tumor cells and stimulates the immune system to destroy primary tumors and prevent cancer,” he continued.

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Cancer vaccines are an active area of ​​research for many laboratories, but the approach taken by Shah and his colleagues is different. Instead of using inactivated tumor cells, the team uses live tumor cells that have an unusual property. Like homing pigeons returning to roost, living tumor cells travel long distances through the brain to return to the site of their fellow tumor cells.

Taking advantage of this unique property, Shah’s team constructed live tumor cells using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool and repurposed them to release a tumor cell-killing agent. In addition, the engineered tumor cells were designed to express factors that would allow the immune system to easily detect, mark and remember them, tuning the immune system for a long-term antitumor response.

The team tested their repurposed CRISPR-enhanced and reshaped therapeutic tumor cells (ThTC) in a variety of mouse strains, including one that carried human-derived bone marrow, liver, and thymus cells that mimic the human immune microenvironment. Shah’s team also built a two-level safety switch into the cancer cell that, when activated, destroys ThTC if necessary.

Scientists have developed a bifunctional therapeutic strategy by turning living tumor cells into therapeutic ones. (IMPLIED: Kok Siong Chen and Khalid Shah)

This dual action cell therapy has been safe, applicable, and effective in these models, offering a roadmap to therapy. While further testing and development is needed, Shah’s team specifically chose this model and used human cells to smooth out the translation path of their results for patients.

“Throughout the work we do at the Center, even if it is very technical, we never lose sight of the patient,” Shah said. “Our goal is to take an innovative yet applicable approach so that we can develop a therapeutic, cancer-killing vaccine that will ultimately have a long-term impact on medicine.”

ThTC promotes apoptosis in the resection cavity of immunodeficient mice. Representative immunofluorescence staining images showing c-Caspase3+ cells in the resection cavity of NOD SCID mice. (CREDIT: Scientific translational medicine)

Shah and colleagues note that this therapeutic strategy is applicable to a wider range of solid tumors and that further research is needed on its application.

How common are brain tumors and are they dangerous?

In the United States, brain and nervous system tumors affect about 30 adults out of 100,000 people. Brain tumors are dangerous because they can put pressure on or spread to healthy parts of the brain. Some brain tumors can also be cancerous or become cancerous. They can cause problems if they block the flow of fluid around the brain, which can lead to increased intracranial pressure. Some types of tumors can spread through the cerebrospinal fluid to distant areas of the brain or spine.

Symptoms of a brain tumor

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, different parts of the brain control different functions, so the symptoms of a brain tumor will vary depending on the location of the tumor. For example, a brain tumor located in the cerebellum at the back of the head can cause problems with movement, walking, balance, and coordination. If the tumor affects the visual pathway responsible for vision, vision changes may occur.

The size of the tumor and how fast it grows also affects what symptoms a person will experience.

In general, the most common symptoms of a brain tumor can be:

  • Headache

  • Convulsions or convulsions

  • Difficulty thinking, speaking or finding words

  • Changes in personality or behavior

  • Weakness, numbness, or paralysis of one part or one side of the body

  • Loss of balance, dizziness or unsteadiness

  • hearing loss

  • Vision is changing

  • Confusion and disorientation

  • Memory loss

Causes and Risk Factors for a Brain Tumor

Doctors don’t know why some cells begin to turn into tumor cells. It may have something to do with the person’s genes, or his or her environment, or both. Some potential brain tumor causes and risk factors may include:

  • Cancer that has spread from other parts of the body

  • Certain genetic conditions that predispose a person to overproducing certain cells

  • Exposure to some forms of radiation

Are brain tumors hereditary?

In a small number (less than 5%) of brain tumors, genetics are to blame. Some hereditary diseases increase the risk of developing tumors, including:

  • neurofibromatosis

  • Von Hippel-Lindau disease

  • Li-Fraumeni syndrome

  • Familial adenomatous polyposis

  • lynch syndrome

  • Basal cell nevus syndrome (Gorlin’s syndrome)

  • tuberous sclerosis

  • Cowden syndrome

For more science news, visit our New Innovations section at The bright side of the news.

Note. Materials provided by Brigham and Women’s Hospital above. Content can be edited for style and length.

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