Breakthrough drug from Tel Aviv raises effectiveness of dual cancer treatment

A NEW drug devised by Israeli scientists offers fresh hope for cancer patients after it improved results for a combination of two treatments.

Created by a team at Tel Aviv University, it has resulted in better outcomes in mice given immunotherapy and chemotherapy together. The hope is human trials can now begin.

The drug works by ensuring the right cells are targeted with the two different treatments.

Chemotherapy has long been one of the main treatments for cancer, using powerful chemicals to wipe out malignant cells. In recent years, doctors have also used immunotherapy, in which treatments help the immune system to find and destroy tumours.

The combination of the two, dubbed chemo-immunotherapy, has huge potential for battling specific forms of cancer. The idea is the two complement each other, so cells left after chemotherapy are dealt with by immunotherapy. However, chemo-immunotherapy is still in its infancy.

Some people may not respond to current use of the joint treatments as their delivery isn’t targeted precisely enough. The new drug uses nanoparticles to release its contents at specific cells, ensuring immunotherapy is delivered to immune system cells and chemotherapy to cancer cells.

A peer-reviewed study in the journal Advanced Materials showed positive benefits to the new drug based on studies conducted on mice and in vitro studies. It is believed to be the world’s first nanoparticle RNA-based treatment of its kind to deliver an effective improvement to both types of therapy for battling cancer.