Rice University bioengineers have shown they can eradicate ovarian and colorectal cancer in mice in as little as six days with a treatment that could be ready for human clinical trials later this year.
The researchers used a drug factory that was the size of a pinhead to deliver continuous high doses of interleukin-2. The beads can be put in with surgery. Each contains cells that are encased in a protective shell.
The treatment and animal test results are described in a Science Advances study co-authored by Omid Veiseh, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the University of Virginia and others.
Veiseh, an assistant professor of bioengineering whose lab produced the treatment, said human clinical trials could begin as soon as this fall because one of his team's key design criteria was helping cancer patients as quickly as possible. The team chose components that had been proven safe in the past for use in humans, and it has demonstrated the safety of the new treatment in multiple tests.
Veiseh said that the drug factories keep making the dose until the cancer is eliminated.
The peritoneum, a sac-like lining that supports abdominal organs, was placed beside tumors in the study. There is a concentrated amount of interleukin-2 within tumors and limited exposure elsewhere.
A major challenge in the field of immunotherapy is to increase tumor inflammation and anti-tumor immunity while avoiding systemic side effects of cytokines and other pro- inflammatory drugs, according to a study co-author. This gives a strong rationale for clinical testing.
The immune system uses Interleukin-2 to fight disease. Nash, a graduate student in Veiseh's group and the study's lead author, said the drug factories cause a stronger immune response than existing treatments because the beads deliver higher concentrations of the interleukin directly.
Nash said that if you gave the same concentration through an IV pump, it would be extremely toxic. Only the tumor site has a high concentration.
Nash said that the same approach could be used to treat other types of cancer. She said that the drug factories could be placed next to tumors and the linings that surround them. The beads can be loaded with engineered cells that can be used to target a specific type of cancer.
The bead has an outer shell that protects it from immune attacks. Veiseh's lab used materials that the immune system recognizes as foreign objects but not as immediate threats in designing the shells.
Within 30 days, we found foreign body reactions and turned off the flow of cytokine from the capsule.
Avenge Bio, a Massachusetts-based startup co-founded by Veiseh, has licensed the cytokine-factory technology from Rice.
Additional co-authors include Maria Jarvis, Sudip Mukherjee, Andrew Hecht, Yufei Cui, Shirin Nouraein, David Zhang, and Peter Rios.
The research was funded by the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas, Avenge Bio, the Emerson Collective, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.
Avenge Bio has a conflict-of-interest policy and has disclosed the relationship to MD Anderson to the public. The interests were declared via patents filed by Rice on the cytokine factories. Avenge Bio pays Igoshin, Veiseh and Oberholzer. Nash, Sheth, Oberholzer, Jazaeri, and Veiseh hold equity in Avenge Bio.
There is a video on this page.
The story was told
The materials are provided by Rice University. Jade wrote the original. Content can be edited for style and length.
Journal reference
All Rights Reserved © 2024
