A research team led by Professor Kim Won-jong of the Department of Chemistry and Graduate School of Convergence at Pohang University of Science and Technology POSTECH said on the 10th that, together with a team led by postdoctoral researcher Lee Jun-seok at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the United States, it has proposed a new anticancer treatment strategy that induces immune cell attacks by attaching a "fake target" to cancer cells.
One of the major challenges in cancer treatment is that cancer hides from the immune system's surveillance. Existing "antibody therapeutics," which harness immune cells in the body, can be effective only when they find specific antigens on the surface of cancer cells, but in actual tumors, antigen expression is low or uneven. Furthermore, there are "antigen-negative tumors" with no antigens at all, limiting treatment efficacy.
The researchers developed a technology called "Univody," which attaches an "antibody fragment (Fc)" to the surface of tumors so that immune cells can attack cancer even without antigens. They created a special gene to ensure that the antibody fragment can stably anchor to the surface of cancer cells and also developed a selective carrier, "lipoplex (LPP-PBA)," to deliver it. This carrier binds well to a molecule called "sialic acid," which is abundant on cancer surfaces, delivering genes selectively to cancer cells. As a result, antibody fragments appear evenly on the surface of cancer cells regardless of the presence or absence of antigens.
Cancer cells that have been fitted with antibody fragments in this way immediately become targets for immune cell attacks. In experiments, "NK cells (natural killer cells)" recognized the antibody fragments to directly attack cancer cells and drew in the participation of other immune cells, inducing a strong immune response. In animal studies, the system also clearly suppressed tumor growth in breast cancer and melanoma models.
The research team's Univody system is significant as a new immunotherapy strategy that enables immune cells to attack cancer without antigens, unlike existing antibody therapeutics.
Professor Kim Won-jong, who led the study, said, "Because it can be applied regardless of antigen type, it will be widely used in various cancer treatments." Postdoctoral researcher Lee Jun-seok emphasized the significance of the research, saying, "The approach of directly attaching antibody fragments to the surface of cancer cells is an innovative technology that will overcome existing limitations."
The study was published in the international journal "American Chemical Society Nano (ACS Nano)" on Jul. last year and was selected for the online edition's Supplementary cover.
References
ACS Nano (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.5c08128