Researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) developed a technology to proliferate anticancer cellular therapeutic agents directly within tumors. This technology can reduce the expense burden on patients and enhance efficacy compared to existing treatments that separate and proliferate cells from tumor tissue.
Professor Park Ji-ho's research team at KAIST's Department of Bio and Brain Engineering reported on the 11th that they have developed an mRNA therapeutic agent that can implement the anticancer treatment effects of anticancer cellular therapy in vivo.
Since the development of CAR (chimeric antigen receptor)-T cell therapies for treating blood cancers, anticancer cellular therapies for solid tumors have been steadily developed. Tumor-infiltrating T cell-based anticancer therapies, capable of recognizing various tumor antigens to eliminate cancer cells, are promising next-generation therapies for solid tumors. However, the process of isolating tumor-infiltrating T cells from tumor tissue and proliferating them ex vivo for reinjection is very complex and time-consuming, which limits development.
Professor Park's research team developed a technology that utilizes mRNA lipid nanoparticles to implement T cell-based therapies from tumor-infiltrating T cells in vivo. They succeeded in ensuring that antibodies required for ex vivo proliferation are expressed on the cell membrane surface, allowing for the growth of tumor-infiltrating T cells in vivo. The mRNA therapeutic agents produced this way demonstrated actual anticancer treatment effects in various solid tumor animal models.
Professor Park said, “In this research, we presented a new concept of anticancer mRNA therapy that can implement anticancer cellular therapies, which were previously prepared at high costs over long periods and injected into patients ex vivo, using only mRNA injection within tumors. This is significant as it provides a new treatment method for solid cancer patients, who previously had no options for treatment with existing anticancer drugs.”
Reference material
ACS Nano (2024), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.4c03518