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CAR T cells have been used successfully to kill blood cancers, but researchers have struggled to make this therapy work against solid tumours. (Image depicts CAR-T cells attacking a cancer cell.) (Eye of Science/Science Photo Library) | |||||
Vaccine boosts solid tumour T-cell therapyA new type of T-cell therapy combined with a vaccine has helped to stall or slow the growth of solid tumours in 14 out of 21 people in an early clinical trial. The results are exciting because they suggest that this treatment can be used safely in people with hard-to-treat solid tumours, such as testicular cancer. Researchers used a well-known technique to genetically engineer participants' T cells to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that bind to CLDN6, a protein that is expressed by many types of solid tumour. The team then used an mRNA vaccine encoding CLDN6, which led to expansion of the CAR T cells. Reference: Nature Medicine paper (23 October)This study was presented at the European Society For Medical Oncology Congress. | |||||
Blood test detects cancer epigenomicsA blood test could help to track the progress of cancer by analysing its epigenomics — the molecular changes to its DNA that control which genes are switched on or off. In a proof-of-concept study, blood samples were taken from more than 400 people with 15 types of advanced cancer. Researchers analysed the tumour DNA in one millimetre of plasma from each participant, and identified 1,268 epigenomic profiles. They hope the liquid-biopsy platform will provide more detail than existing blood tests on which disease-causing genes are expressed as cancer progresses. Reference: Nature Medicine paper (21 October)This study was presented at the European Society For Medical Oncology congress. | |||||
Fluorescent dye fades slower in tumoursThe outline of a solid tumour can be drawn more accurately if the lifetime of injected fluorescent dye, rather than its intensity, is measured. This improvement could help doctors to better visualize tumours during surgery. Fluorescence lifetime is the amount of time the chemicals in the dye spend in an excited state. Researchers found that fluorescence lifetime was longer in cancer cells than in healthy cells, and could be used to distinguish the two with more than 97% accuracy. Fluorescence lifetime is a more reliable measurement than intensity because it is not affected by tumour size or depth. Reference: Nature Biomedical Engineering paper (16 October) | |||||
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Cancer thwarts chemo by stabilizing mitosisResearchers have discovered a backup system that can help cancer cells to divide successfully when chemotherapy drugs are messing with the usual process. Chemotherapy causes tiny structures in the cancer cell called microtubules to malfunction, inhibiting cancer growth. However, the cell cortex at the periphery can exert a mechanical force to ensure that the division of the chromosomes goes smoothly. This generates "the force necessary to physically grab and pull the chromosomes into each daughter cell and ensure the cancer cell multiplies", says co-author and microbiologist Peter Gunning. Using structured illumination microscopy, the researchers captured images of cancer cells using this unusual process to replicate. "We could see it happening before our eyes," says Gunning. New Atlas | 3 min readReference: Current Biology paper (23 October) | |||||
The movement of chromosomes (blue) during cell division is usually orchestrated by the mitotic spindle — a cytoskeleton made of microtubules (green). | |||||
In the news
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Boys should be vaccinated against HPVThe human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine can protect against cancers in men and women, but it is being given to boys and men in only one-third of the countries where it is available. The argument is that vaccinating only women creates a herd-immunity effect that also protects men. But this approach provides little protection for men who have sex with men. Critics say it also unfairly stigmatizes women for infecting men with HPV, when men are also a reservoir for the disease. "From a social-justice and equality point of view, it makes sense to vaccinate men and women," says mathematical biologist Kit Yates. Wired | 8 min readReference: The Lancet Global Health paper (September) | |||||
The pink ribbon for breast-cancer awareness should have a splash of blue to symbolize that 1% of people with breast cancer are men, says producer Vivian Kobusingye Birchall. (STAT | 5 min read, paywall) | |||||
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Antibody–drug conjugates are 'biological missiles' that fight cancer using a guidance system (the target antigen) and a warhead (the cytotoxic drug). Fourteen drugs in this class have been approved worldwide since the first one — gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) — was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2000. View a larger version of this image here. (Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy | 67 min read) Antibody–drug conjugates were also a hot topic at the European Society For Medical Oncology congress this month. (STAT | 6 min read, paywall) (Z. Fu et al./Sig Transduct Target Ther) | |||||
Quote of the week"We don't come into trials as blank slates."In a US clinical trial, Black and Hispanic people with breast cancer had worse survival than did white people, even when all participants were given identical treatments. This disparity occurs because people carry the harms of systemic racism with them into clinical trials, says cancer epidemiologist and senior author Erica Warner. (STAT | 4 min read) | |||||
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