This new cancer therapy has completely destroyed advanced bowel and ovarian tumours in just six days.
Over the next few weeks, clinical trials will begin after the results found in mice were described as “very exciting”.
Drug ‘factories’ the size of a pinhead are delivered to give a stream of protein in high bursts that boost the immune system.
Dr. Omid Veiseh, of Rice University in Houston, Texas, whose family friend died of the deadly disease and co-author said:
“We just administer once, but they keep making the dose every day, where it’s needed until the cancer is eliminated,”
“Once we determined the correct dose—how many factories we needed—we were able to eradicate tumours in 100% of animals with ovarian cancer and in seven of eight animals with colorectal cancer.”
The minuscule beads have a protective shell that contains cells that have been engineered to release interleukin-2. These beads could be used to combat the most deadly cancers including those of the lungs, pancreas and liver.
Via a minimally invasive surgery, they are implanted in the body and human tests could start by autumn.
The team have only chosen mixture fluids that have already been proven safe for humans.
In the lab rodents, the drug-producing beads were placed in the lining of the abdominal cavity, which is a sack-like lining that supports the ovaries, intestines and other organs within the abdominal area, and also limits exposure elsewhere.
Co-author Professor Amir Jazaeri, of Texas University, shared:
“A major challenge in the field of immunotherapy is to increase tumour inflammation and anti-tumour immunity while avoiding systemic side effects of cytokines and other pro-inflammatory drugs,”
“In this study, we demonstrated that the ‘drug factories’ allow regulatable local administration of interleukin-2 and the eradication of tumour in several mouse models, which is very exciting.”
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