The future of immunotherapy could be ‘off-the-shelf’ treatments

In a new issue for the magazine Science, an associate vice president for research at the University of Texas at Arlington, argues that emerging protein-based immunotherapies could lead to “effective off-the-shelf” cancer treatments for more patients.

Jon Weidanz, who is also a professor in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at UTA, is the author of a vision for the development of cancer immunotherapies.

His article, “Targeting cancer with bispecific antibodies,” appears in the March 5 issue of Science. It evaluates the results of three studies by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and suggests that an emerging approach to protein-based immunotherapy may target mutations that commonly occur in the cancer cells or neoantigens – mutated antigens produced by tumor cells – lead to treatments that are effective for oncology patients.

Immunotherapy, a method of treating an illness by stimulating a person ‘s immune system, is a developing alternative to traditional cancer treatments.

“Until recently patients were limited to four treatment options: surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and targeted therapy,” Weidanz said. “However, the sacred grave was always to develop strategies that would harness the power of the immune system to attack and destroy it. With a recent break in immuno-oncology along with the new conclusions published therein Science, we seem to be blocking cancer with new immunotherapies. “

As treatment has progressed, immunologists have found ways to engineer a person’s T-cells, the white blood cells that fight and kill infectious cells, to identify and target cancer cells and target them. eliminate them from the body. This approach has led to encouraging improvements in the field and relief in some patients. However, more work is needed to make this type of T-cell therapy more accessible.

Researchers, on the other hand, have developed techniques that stimulate the immune system without removing T-cells from the body. These protein-based “off-the-shelf” therapies, known as bispecific T-cell T-cell antibodies, have been effective in treating patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of blood cancer.

“The best way is to create protein molecules that contain two arms. One arm can recognize and attach to the cancer cell. The other arm binds to T-cells,” Weidanz said. “The protein drug then brings the T cells close to the tumor cells, which activate the T cells to destroy the tumor cells.”

These two-armed or bispecific proteins avoid healthy cells while destroying cancer cells. Weidanz argues that this method of protein-based immunotherapy could make a difference. The key comes down to the specific targets expressed by the cancer cells that the bispecific protein drug recognizes. Bispecific antibodies may bind to specific neoantigen targets found on tumor cells and employ T cells to destroy the cancer.

“The beauty of bispecific proteins is that you could make these proteins and put them on the shelf as an immunotherapy agent,” Weidanz said. “If a doctor sees that a patient’s cancer is targeting the neoantigen target, they could be treated immediately. It’s still a personal drug, but engineering T cells wouldn’t be needed.”

An expert in immunology, Weidanz has more than 30 years of experience in biotechnology research with an emphasis on immunotherapy, primarily related to oncology and product development to diagnose and treat cancer. His research lab at UTA examines how the immune system identifies malignant cells with the goal of designing therapies that stimulate the ability of immune cells to destroy cancerous cells.

“Dr. Weidanz’s vast experience in the field of immunology will take us to the next generation of cancer management,” said James Grover, interim vice president of research. “The developments of his laboratory and the developments of his talented colleagues across the country make this a real moment in the history of a devastating disease. “

Weidanz said immunotherapy promises to transform cancer into a more manageable state with better prognoses for patients.

“We’re getting to a point where we’ll be able to make cancer more of a chronic disease,” Weidanz said. “Now, let’s look at five-year survival. Maybe we can start looking at 15- or 20-year survival readings because we can control the disease with developing immunotherapies. This is a very exciting time. ”

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