2023-06-01 04:00:01
A team of researchers from the Infectiology and Public Health research department of the University of Tours/INRAE has just published a promising study concerning the treatment of lung cancer metastases. And this, thanks to the therapeutic capacities of a harmless protozoan for humans.
The protozoan, the future of the fight against cancer? Neospora caninethe small name of this unicellular organism with anti-tumor properties, has been at the heart of the concerns of the scientists of the BioMAP team for nearly 10 years. (Biopharmaceuticals and Microorganisms Against Pathologies ).
Indeed, if our immune system naturally eliminates the tumor cells that are constantly forming in our body, the danger of cancer comes from the fact that it thwarts this natural defence. As INRAE explains, immunotherapy is a track aiming not to “directly” destroy cancer cells (like radiation or chemo) but to “reactivate” the immune system so that it eliminates them. This is in any case the goal pursued by the researchers, by genetically modifying Neospora canine.
For this study, scientists have synthesized by the protozoaire a protein called cytokine (Interleukin 15) occurs naturally in humans. This cytokine, nicknamed messenger protein, is able to communicate information to the immune system and therefore stimulate it. Once the Neospora canine modified, it is administered nasally to a panel of mice.
The scientists were able to demonstrate in this study that the metastases regressed on the lungs of the mice tested. A first for this Touraine team integrated into the research department Infectiology and Public Health from the University of Tours/INRAE. This work was carried out in collaboration with Kymera private Canadian company specializing in onco-immunology and seeking funding to attempt clinical trials on humans.
Because in the search for treatment against cancer, biomedicines are popular. Viruses, bacteria or protozoa, microorganisms are the future for immunotherapy, much less invasive than the methods that preceded it.
Today this discovery opens new doors to combined treatments. If surgery is especially favored when it comes to the fight against cancer, biomedicines are one more innovation. It can be combined with other treatments. For Louis Lantier, project manager of the BioMAP team, the future is open. This will also allow “combine therapies, bringing new benefits to current therapies“, like surgery or rays. And maybe enough to fight some cancers. But that’s what studies on humans can determine.
The Neospora caninesmall but strong, could be the key to research against other types of cancers.
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