| Scientists of the department of Advanced Organ Bioengineering and Therapeutics (TechMed Centre) recently published a novel cancer immune therapy in the scientific journal Nature Communications (“Cancer immune therapy using engineered ‛tail-flipping’ nanoliposomes targeting alternatively activated macrophages”). | |
| In their research, Prof Dr Jai Prakash and his team developed newly designed nanoparticles which can target the body’s immune cells to turn them against cancer. | |
| In cancer research, it has been increasingly known that tumour cells can change the alliance of some specific macrophages to help the tumour grow. “Macrophages are cells that act like the vacuum cleaners of your immune system. Normally they catch intruders and destroy them, but tumour cells can hijack these cells to help them spread throughout the body,” Prakash explains. | |
Tail-flipping nanoparticles |
|
| Prakash and his team designed nanoparticles that train these tumour-supporting ‘bad’ macrophages into cells that will fight tumours. However, these tiny (100-200 nanometre diameter) cell-like structures first have to find the macrophages before they can start the training. Prakash says: “It was one of the questions we tried to answer with this research: How do we get our nanoparticles at the right location and to the right macrophage.” | |
| To solve this challenge, the researchers had to alter the nanoparticles. The nanoparticles consist of a double layer of specific lipids (phospholipids) called nanoliposomes. These lipids have long tails that like to stick together in between the double layer. “We replaced some of the lipids to ones with a slightly shorter charged tail that can ‘flip’ to the outer surface,” Prakash explains. The bad macrophages can recognize these flipped tails and then eat up the whole particle. | |
Training macrophages |
|
| “When we knew how to target the bad macrophages, it became time to train them into fighting the tumour again”, Prakash says. The researchers added a small component of the bacterial cell wall, which can train macrophages, to the ‘tail-flipping’ nanoliposomes in the double layer wall of these nanoparticles. These molecules are then also taken up by the bad macrophages which subsequently train them to kill cancer cells. Targeting this compound this way prevents it from being recognized by the wrong cells and thus prevents damage to other parts of the body. | |
Killing tumors and preventing metastasis |
|
| In the publication, the researchers not only show that the hijacked macrophages can be retrained to fight the cancer cells again, inhibiting the tumour growth by 70% in breast tumour mouse models. “In our mice, the therapy prevented metastasis, the ability of cancer cells to spread through the body,” Prakash says. The trained macrophages prevented the tumour cells from ‘preparing’ lung tissue to host tumour cells – a process before metastasis. When a tumour cell arrived in the lungs, the tissue wasn’t ready and the tumour cell couldn’t start a new tumour. |
News
Researcher at Russian plague laboratory dies of ‘unknown’ infection
Russian authorities have imposed "anti-epidemic measures" after a laboratory worker at an institute in Siberia dedicated to studying the plague and other infectious diseases died of a mysterious illness. The researcher, a 28-year-old female [...]
GHCE Concept
From the preface of the book Global Health Care Equivalency in the Age of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine and Artificial Intelligence, Edited by Frank Boehm: Since the publication of my first book (Nanomedical Device and Systems [...]
A Surprising Brain Signal Could Explain Why Eating Less Protein Extends Lifespan
A new paper suggests that limiting protein intake triggers a coordinated response throughout the body that may help explain how protein restriction affects healthy aging. Animals respond to protein restriction, or reduced protein in [...]
Back and shoulder surgery is often worse than useless
Millions of operations should be scrapped SIX IN TEN Britons have surgery at some point. So do lots of Americans, at a cost of perhaps $500bn a year, a third of all spending on [...]
Cocaine plays with mind, hijacks brain circuit, drives increasingly rigid and repetitive behavior
Researchers have found that cocaine hijacks brain circuit, which to drive increasingly rigid and repetitive behavior. The brain circuit that normally participates in selecting natural mouth and face movements, but which becomes disproportionately engaged [...]
Injectable nanodevices could provide effective treatment for drug-resistant glioblastoma
The brain cancer glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive and treatment-resistant cancers known to medicine, carrying a median survival of just 12-15 months, even with the best available care. Now, researchers at the [...]
New Treatment Cuts “Bad” Cholesterol in Half for a Full Year
A single infusion of an experimental CRISPR-Cas9 therapy was reported to safely lower LDL cholesterol by 52.5% and triglycerides by 47.8%, as measured 12 months after treatment. What if one infusion could keep cholesterol [...]
Too Much RNA Can Drain a Cell’s Energy, Scientists Discover
A virus may cripple a cell’s power supply simply by producing too much of a molecule the cell needs to survive. New research from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences [...]
West African scientists warn of weakening health systems and urge stronger outbreak detection
LOME, Togo (AP) — West African laboratory scientists called on governments Friday to strengthen capacity to detect disease outbreaks to avoid another major outbreak, saying health systems across the region are becoming weaker. Participants [...]
A Little-Known Protein Could Point to a New Way To Treat Alzheimer’s
A study suggests that increasing SORLA protein levels could help treat Alzheimer’s disease and other disorders involving tau protein. Increasing SORLA, a protein with a protective role in the brain, helped mice withstand damage [...]
Cancer’s Hidden Antioxidant Shield Helps It Escape the Immune System
Blocking an antioxidant protein that tumors use to suppress immune attacks improved cancer immunotherapy responses in mice. Cancer cells can release antioxidants that interfere with the immune cells trying to kill them. Researchers have [...]
Scientists Find a Berry Compound That Helps Muscle Cells Burn Fat
Pterostilbene, a compound found naturally in some foods, affects how skeletal muscles process fats by stabilizing a protein called PPARδ and increasing its signaling activity. Pterostilbene, a natural compound found in blueberries, grapes, and [...]
Two Hidden Forces Help Build the Human Brain Before Birth
Scientists have uncovered two surprising forces that help guide how the human brain forms before birth. Before birth, the human brain is shaped in large part by an unusual class of stem cells known [...]
Researchers Uncover a Hidden Trigger Behind Chronic Inflammation
The findings offer new insights that could help guide the development of future therapies. A protein called human resistin may help flip on one of the immune system’s most powerful inflammatory switches. Researchers at [...]
Scientists Have Uncovered Previously Hidden Microbial Activity on Human Skin
The most abundant microbes on your skin may not be the ones doing most of the work. Human skin supports vast communities of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that can influence its protective barrier, immune [...]
Brazilian Tree Compounds Fight COVID-19 on Multiple Fronts
Scientists found compounds in a Brazilian tree that hit SARS-CoV-2 on multiple fronts, revealing a promising new lead in the search for COVID-19 treatments. Researchers have found that galloylquinic acids extracted from the leaves [...]
