STEALTH DRUGS TARGET TUMORS!
ABREAKTHROUGH technique that turns immunotherapy drugs into tumor-targeting torpedoes offers life-saving hope for cancer patients. Immunotherapy drugs have been hailed as promising new weapons in the fight against the deadly disease and work like a powerful cocktail, boosting a patient’s own immune system. But they’re so potent, they can be toxic to the rest of the body.
Now Swiss researchers have developed a revolutionary technology to change that! “Immunotherapy drugs are administered intravenously, and once inside the body, they spread all over, not just where the cancer or metastases are located,” explained Li Tang, head of the School of
Engineering at the
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. “The problem is the proteins in the drugs are so strong they damage healthy tissue.”
For that reason, many immunotherapies that have proven highly effective in pre-clinical studies often can’t be used to save lives. “The treatments used in patients today have been toned down so they’re less potent,” said Tang.
“That makes them safer but less effective at destroying tumors. Our aim is to keep all the potency of immunotherapy — it will be an important treatment option for cancer patients.”
After years of research and experimentation, the university’s team has produced a pioneering delivery system where the drugs only start working when they hit tumor tissue.
Using the unique chemical properties found around cancers, the scientists developed a polymer shield that allows the drugs to travel through the body harmlessly. The shield breaks down when exposed to the tumor and “the drugs are then free to activate the patient’s cancer-fighting cells,” said Tang.
The technique could be in clinical use within a few years.