PNAS analysis! Develop a new type of cancer immunotherapy that can target common genetic mutations!

March 25, 2021 // --Recently, a research report entitled "Targeting loss of heterozygosity for cancer-specific immunotherapy" was published in the international journal PNAS , from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and other institutions Through research, scientists have developed a prototype of a new type of cancer immunotherapy, which may be able to engineer T cells to target all common genetic alterations in cancer; this new method can stimulate the body’s The immune response protects cells that lack a copy of a gene, that is, cells with loss of heterozygosity (LOH).

A gene has two alleles or copies, and the two copies are from the parent's body; cancer-related genetic changes usually involve the loss of one of the gene copies.

CARs are engineered receptors that can bind to special antigens on the surface of cancer cells.

The researcher Michael Hwang explained that in normal cells, both alleles are present and expressed.

The researchers tested the NASCAR therapy in three separate cell lines and mouse models, including mouse models with or without LOH, to confirm the specificity of this method for genetic changes.

Image source: Elizabeth Cook

Researcher Shibin Zhou said that the research in this article provides a principled proof that this method can be used to selectively kill cancer cells; researchers may need to conduct years of research before clinical implementation.

Reference materials:

[1] Michael S.