Home » From vaccines made by children a new way against tumors – Medicine

From vaccines made by children a new way against tumors – Medicine

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From vaccines made by children a new way against tumors – Medicine

A new approach is coming to unmask and target cancer cells, which are very skilled at ‘hiding’ from the immune system: the aim is to use the memory that the body has of previous vaccinations, made when we were children. The mechanism is simple: an antigen linked to an already made vaccine is injected into the tumor, in this way the immune system recognizes it and attacks the ‘uncovered’ neoplastic cells. It is the immunotherapy of the future, suggested by a study conducted by the Irccs San Martino Polyclinic Hospital in Genoa, the University of Eastern Piedmont, the University of Genoa and the Institute of Biomedical Technologies of the CNR in Segrate, just published in the Journal for Immunotherapy for Cancer.
The study therefore aims to redirect the immune response against tumors that ‘hide’ from the body’s sentinel cells, potentially exploiting the memory of the vaccines already received. The study was conducted on mice: a vaccine model based on a non-tumor protein, ovalbumin, was used. The mice were previously vaccinated against ovalbumin, then once the tumor had developed ovalbumin-containing nanoparticles were injected into the tumor. As a result, the potent anti-albumin immune response was redirected against the tumor. With this approach it was possible to arrest the growth up to, in some cases, the disappearance of two experimental tumors of melanoma and bladder. The next step will be the start of human trials, using not a vaccine model but antigens from vaccines already made in childhood. “It is a therapy that can potentially be directed against all forms of cancer, exploiting the immunity due to pediatric vaccinations, such as tetanus or hepatitis, against which everyone is vaccinated as children”, observes Gilberto Filaci, director of the Unit of Biotherapies of San Martino and coordinator of the study. The point, Filaci points out, is that “attempts made to develop anti-tumor vaccines have often failed because tumors manage to prevent or shut down the immune responses against their own molecular components. But tumors, however, can do nothing against already existing immune responses, such as those that develop when vaccinated as children”. Hence the idea of ​​the study. This innovative strategy “has numerous advantages – explains Filaci -. It can in fact be applied to every patient, because the only requirement is that at least one pediatric vaccination has been received that can be used to redirect the immune response against the tumor. Furthermore, the ‘approach is possible against any form of tumor and the administration procedure is very simple because it is sufficient to puncture the tumor to inject the nanoparticles loaded with the right antigen”. “Of course, there is still a long way to go before this new therapeutic approach can be administered to patients, but – concludes the expert – we will try to quickly go through the steps to reach the finish line”.

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