By Admin at 18 Jan 2016, 14:00 PM
Immunotherapy, which uses a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer, is showing increased promise for improving survival rates and quality of life among cancer patients.
But there are some limitations. For instance, adoptive cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy that uses anti-cancer immune cells (T lymphocytes or T cells). The T cells produced in your body may not be able to eradicate the cancer alone, so researchers grow more of them in the lab and then inject them into your bloodstream.
Even still, it may be difficult for enough T cells to be generated to effectively overcome the cancer. The treatment is also administered along with a hormone (interleukin-2) that can cause serious side effects.
Right now, researchers must use billions of T cells in adoptive cell therapy. However, a new “intelligent biogel” may change that, such that only millions of T cells would be required. Plus, the biogel shows promise in revolutionizing many cancer treatments.
The biogel, an injectable liquid that turns into a gel at human body temperature (98.6 degrees F), may be used to deliver anti-cancer agents directly into tumors. It’s made from chitosane, a material extracted from crustacean shells, along with gelling agents.
Researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM), who developed the technology, have tested the gel successfully in the lab. It essentially encapsulates T cells, allowing them to retain their anti-cancer functions while delivering them directly to the site of the tumor. Study co-author Réjean Lapointe told Medical Xpress:
"The strength of this biogel is that it is compatible with anti-cancer immune cells. It is used to encapsulate these cells and eventually administer them using a syringe or catheter into the tumour or directly beside it.
Instead of injecting these cells or anti-cancer drugs throughout the entire body via the bloodstream, we can treat the cancer locally. We hope that this targeted approach will improve current immunotherapies."
To date, in vitro models show the gel is effective against melanoma and kidney cancer. Future studies will test whether the biogel is also effective in animals and humans. If it continues to show promise, the gel may be incorporated into cancer treatments in a few years.
In addition to delivering cancer-fighting T cells to tumors, the gel could also be used to deliver anti-cancer drugs and other anti-cancer agents, offering more targeted treatment. Researchers concluded in the journal Biomaterials:
“ … this locally injectable hydrogel may be further developed to complement a wide variety of existing immunotherapies.”
Sources:
Biomaterials January 2016
Medical Xpress November 19, 2015
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