In a new study published today in Nature Biomedical EngineeringResearchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have designed a new method for developing immunotherapy drugs using peptides designed to trigger a natural immune response within the body.
In preclinical models of locally advanced and metastatic breast cancer, this approach improved tumor control and prolonged survival, both as monotherapy and in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
“Amino acids are the building blocks of life, and when some of them come together, they create a peptide. All biological functions performed by our body are performed by proteins and peptides, so our goal was to find a way to redesign these little ones. molecules possess the unique ability to activate our immune system,” said senior author Betty Kim, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Neurosurgery.
The body’s immune system is designed to patrol and identify infected or diseased cells for elimination, but cancer cells often take advantage of weaknesses in the immune system to avoid detection. The goal of immunotherapy is to boost the body’s natural ability to identify and destroy cancer cells. Current immune checkpoint inhibitors are antibodies designed to block specific immune signaling pathways.
The engineered peptide enhances the immune system’s ability to detect and destroy cancer cells in a unique way. Instead of using an external compound to initiate a response, or harvesting and modifying immune cells for cellular therapies, the peptide serves as a messenger to activate specific signaling pathways in immune cells to improve their performance.
“These findings open a completely new avenue for the development of immunotherapy drugs. By using engineered polypeptides, we can potently activate immune signaling pathways to enhance antitumor responses. Furthermore, since these are naturally occurring agents, we anticipate that the profile toxicity would be significantly better than with synthetic compounds,” said co-author Wen Jiang, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Radiation Oncology.
This study was supported by the National Cancer Institute (CA241070) and the US Department of Defense.