Immunotherapy has been used in cancer treatment for several years, but the method often works poorly against solid tumors.
According to researchers, this is partly because tumors create an environment that suppresses immune cells.
As a result, the body’s own defenses do not respond effectively to cancer cells, Science Daily reports.
At the same time, many current immunotherapies are technically complex.
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They require immune cells to be extracted from the patient, modified in laboratories, and then returned to the body.
This makes the treatment both expensive and time-consuming.
A new approach
Researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have taken a different approach, according to their study published in ACS Nano.
Instead of removing immune cells, they work with macrophages that are already present within the tumor.
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The researchers describe how an injection directly into the tumor can deliver small lipid-based particles to these cells.
The particles contain mRNA and a substance that activates the immune system. Together, they enable the macrophages to better recognize and attack cancer cells.
What do the experiments show?
According to the researchers’ own animal experiments, tumor growth was reduced in mice with melanoma, while other immune cells were also activated.
Professor and co-author Ji-Ho Park says the method demonstrates a new principle in which anticancer immune cells are created directly within the body.
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The researchers emphasize that these are early results, but believe the method could prove significant for future cancer treatment.
Sources: Science Daily, and ACS Nano.
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