Trojan Horse Cancer Therapy: Stunning Results Emerge
- Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai developed an experimental immunotherapy that targets the cells surrounding and protecting cancer, rather than the cancer cells themselves.
- The immunotherapy utilizes a "Trojan horse" approach, targeting macrophages - immune cells that typically guard and protect cancer cells.
- Metastatic disease is responsible for the majority of cancer-related deaths, and solid tumors like lung and ovarian cancer often resist existing immunotherapies.
Mount Sinai Researchers Develop ‘trojan Horse’ Immunotherapy for Metastatic Cancer
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Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai developed an experimental immunotherapy that targets the cells surrounding and protecting cancer, rather than the cancer cells themselves. The research, published January 22, 2024, in Cancer Cell, demonstrated promising results in preclinical models of aggressive metastatic ovarian and lung cancer.
Targeting Cancer’s Protective Layer
The immunotherapy utilizes a “Trojan horse” approach, targeting macrophages – immune cells that typically guard and protect cancer cells. by disabling these protective cells, the treatment allows the immune system to infiltrate and destroy the tumor.
Why This Approach Matters
Metastatic disease is responsible for the majority of cancer-related deaths, and solid tumors like lung and ovarian cancer often resist existing immunotherapies. Researchers attribute this resistance to tumors suppressing immune activity in their habitat, creating a barrier against attack.
“What we call a tumor is really cancer cells surrounded by cells that feed and protect them. Its a walled fortress,” says Jaime mateus-Tique,phd,lead study author and faculty member in Immunology and Immunotherapy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “With immunotherapy, we kept running into the same problem — we can’t get past this fortress’s guards. So, we thought: what if we targeted these guards, turned them from protectors to friends, and used them as a gateway to bring a wrecking force within the fortress.”
Understanding Tumor-Associated Macrophages
Tumor-associated macrophages normally function as early responders, fighting infections and repairing tissue damage. Though, within tumors, these cells are reprogrammed to suppress immune responses and support cancer growth. This new therapy aims to reverse that process, turning the macrophages into allies in the fight against cancer.
Source: Mateus-Tique, J., et al.(2024). Targeting Tumor-Associated Macrophages to Enhance Immunotherapy Efficacy. Cancer Cell. https://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108(23)00648-9