[ad_1]
Pohang University of Science and Technology (Postech) announced that Professor Kim Won-jong’s research team from the Department of Chemistry developed a robust method of treating cancer using the formation of immune synapses of cancer cells from natural killer cells through from joint research with G-Cell.
Currently, three methods of treating cancer are surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy.
Surgery and radiation therapy are effective in reducing solid tumors. However, there is a risk of cancer recurrence due to residual or metastatic cells.
Residual cells and metastatic cells are treated with cancer drug chemotherapy for patients, but their use has been limited due to systemic side effects.
However, the body has an immune system that can differentiate cancer cells from normal cells and selectively induce death. Cancer immunotherapy using this method has fewer side effects than chemotherapy and increases the patient’s survival rate.
In particular, treatment with natural killer cells during cancer immunotherapy has low side effects and a great effect on blood cancer. However, unlike blood cancer cells, solid cancer has a low therapeutic effect due to its low penetration into the extracellular matrix that surrounds cancer tissue.
The researchers hypothesized that natural killer cells will form an immune synapse at the cancer cell interface of natural killer cells to induce cancer cell death, and then release granules with low acidity, and the hypothesis that acidity it will decrease rapidly near the immune synapse. Erected
According to this hypothesis, if a polymeric micelle (a nanoparticle formed by a hydrophilic-hydrophobic polymer) capable of releasing an anticancer agent on the surface of a natural killer cell can respond to low acidity, a system can be implemented that selectively releases an agent. anticancer. court
Furthermore, it is expected that the anticancer agent can induce death of cancer cells in the deep part of the tumor because it is small enough to enter the deep part of the tumor through the dense extracellular matrix around the cancerous tissue.
The researchers have implemented a system that can release anticancer drugs only when natural killer cells recognize cancer cells and induce death.
As a result of applying this system to animal models with solid cancer, it was confirmed that it increased the efficacy of the administration of anticancer agents to cancer tissues.
Professor Kim Won-jong, who led the research as a correspondent author, said: “This study is important because it has developed a strategy to improve the therapeutic effect in solid cancer, which has been a chronic problem of cell-based cell therapy. natural killers. ” It can be applied to cells, so it is expected to be applicable to treatments that are currently marketed or clinically tested. “
The results of this research were published as the cover of the latest online version of ‘Advanced Materials’.
Copyright © Green Post Korea Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited
[ad_2]
