‘Pharmaceutical factory’ technology kills mesothelioma tumor cells in mice

Tiny drug-producing beads implanted in the thoracic cavity may one day provide a powerful platform to change the way we do things mesothelioma cancer treated.

In a recent study, researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine demonstrated impressive efficacy of implants in mice, raising hopes for a potential breakthrough in this difficult-to-treat cancer.

The researchers have already met with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and hope to start a clinical trial to test the efficacy of the treatment for mesothelioma patients by late 2023. Clinical Cancer Research published his latest study on August 22nd.

“There’s a lot of work to do, but we’re excited about the potential and encouraged by the clinical research that’s already been done,” said the bioengineering lab at Rice University, which invented the new technology. Omid Veiseh, a researcher, told The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos. com. “This could change the paradigm [of treatment]”

New technology to deliver drugs directly to tumors

Drug-producing beads no larger than the head of a pin can be programmed to continuously produce high doses of genetically engineered interleukin-2, a natural compound that activates white blood cells to fight tumors. . Researchers refer to this process as “pharmaceutical factory” technology.

The FDA has already approved this technology with interleukin-2 for clinical trials on ovarian cancer. It is scheduled to open around the end of 2022.

In a mouse study with mesothelioma, beads were loaded with thousands of cells and implanted in a minimally invasive manner. surgery Along the tumor, inside the pleura that surrounds the lungs.

The first group had an average 80% reduction in tumor burden after just one week of treatment. More than half of the mice had complete tumor disappearance after transplantation.

A second group of mice received the same interleukin-2 and checkpoint inhibitor combination therapy. Checkpoint inhibitors work by training the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells.

In that second group, all seven animals cleared the tumor burden and none of the animals showed recurrence during the next few weeks of observation.

“Just like in humans, it is very difficult to treat mesothelioma tumors in mice,” said a thoracic surgeon. Dr. Brian Bart, a mesothelioma expert at Baylor University and co-author of the study. “And what our data show is that when these immunotherapeutic particles are delivered locally to these mice with mesothelioma, they have a very stimulating and very effective therapeutic response. is.”

Continuous drug administration is important

The key, according to the authors, is the ability to deliver continuous drug delivery along the tumor. Immunotherapy drugs As such, it has shown only sporadic efficacy in patients when administered systemically. They were particularly effective in only a small subset of patients.

“We have been working on this technology for some time,” says Veiseh. “This combination does a more effective job of using the immune system to kill tumors.”

It was Weisse’s early work using his technique on ovarian cancer at Rice University that first caught the attention of Dr. Bert and Ravi Ganta of Baylor University.

“They were very impressed with the preclinical data on ovarian cancer,” Veiseh said. “And they asked, ‘Can we really use the same system for mesothelioma?'”

The answer was in the mouse model. clinical trials.

In addition to showing potential for eliminating tumors, this early study suggests that drug combinations and their delivery methods may also be effective in training T cells to reactivate the immune system. suggests that there is recurrence of mesothelioma occurs.

“I’ve never seen mesothelioma tumors eradicated in mice like this mouse model. It’s that effective,” said Burt. “Local delivery of relatively high doses of immunotherapy to the pleural space is a very attractive way to treat this disease.”