New type of immunotherapy could change the treatment plan for triple-negative breast cancer

Source: University of California – Los Angeles

From: news-medical.net

Triple-negative breast cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers. The name tells the story: It lacks the three main targets that make other types of breast cancers more treatable with powerful therapies.

UCLA researchers have developed a novel therapy that could fundamentally change the treatment plan for this deadly disease. In a study published in the Journal of Hematology & Oncology, the team details how this new type of immunotherapy, called CAR-NKT cell therapy, could attack tumors from multiple fronts while dismantling their protective shields.

The therapy uses engineered immune cells called CAR-NKT cells, which can be mass-produced from donated blood stem cells and stored ready-to-use. This off-the-shelf approach offers an immediately available treatment option at a fraction of the cost of current personalized cell therapies, which can soar into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A triple threat against a triple-negative cancer

CAR-T cell therapies have transformed treatment for certain blood cancers by turning patients’ own immune cells into precision weapons. However, these therapies have struggled against solid tumors like breast cancer, which employ sophisticated defense mechanisms and constantly evolve to evade treatment.

To tackle these hurdles, the UCLA team’s cell therapy harnesses a rare but powerful type of immune cell called invariant natural killer T cell, or NKT cell. When equipped with a chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, targeting mesothelin – a protein found on triple-negative breast cancer cells – these potent tumor-fighting cells gain the ability to recognize and destroy cancer through three distinct mechanisms.

The first mechanism uses the engineered CAR to target mesothelin, which is associated with more aggressive, metastatic disease. The second leverages the cells’ natural killer receptors that recognize more than 20 molecular markers, making it nearly impossible for tumors to evade all of them. The third employs the cells’ unique T cell receptor to reshape the tumor microenvironment by eliminating immunosuppressive cells.