“Drug Factories” Producing Immune-Boosting Molecules on Tumours Have Researchers Excited

 “Drug factories” developed by researchers can be implanted in the abdominal cavity near tumors to effectively fight cancer. In today’s episode, we will learn about the “drug factories” created by the researchers.

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Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is an immune-boosting molecule that is produced by drug factories to eliminate cancer.

Although in a nascent stage with clinical trials performed only on mice, the results of the drug factories have been phenomenal. According to reports, experiments performed on mice with drug factories were an immense success. The tumors in mice with colorectal and ovarian cancers were completely eliminated.

According to Omid Veiseh, bioengineer, Ph.D., at Rice University, the first round of human trials with ovarian cancer is expected to start sometime this year. 

Amanda Nash, the lead researcher of the study, said that cytokine or IL-2, a type of molecule “is a known potent activator of T cells—the fighter cells of the immune system—and boosts their normal ability to eliminate cancer cells.”

An article published by National Cancer Institute mentions the following:

“Indeed, a laboratory-made form of IL-2 (Proleukin) was the first immunotherapy approved to treat cancer, in 1992. But its use in patients has been limited by the severe side effects that occur when the drug is given intravenously and reaches the entire body.”

James Gulley, a cancer immunotherapy expert in NCI’s Center for Cancer Research, said, “This study offers one approach to providing IL-2 in a way that limits its toxicity and maximizes its cancer-fighting effects.”

“But clinical trials will be needed to test the safety and effectiveness of this approach in patients,” he further added.

Dr. Veiseh’s team began creating drug factories using human retinal cells exclusively grown in the laboratories. Human retinal cells can easily be genetically modified. The specialized team engineered human retinal cells to produce IL-2. Each drug factory contains about 20,000-30,000 cells. The cells are placed in alginate—a gel-like material that protects the cell.

The National Cancer Institute article mentions: 

“Implanting the beads eradicated tumors in 20 of 20 animals in a mouse model of advanced ovarian cancer and 7 of 8 animals in a mouse model of aggressive colorectal cancer. Both ovarian and colorectal cancer often spread to other parts of the peritoneal cavity in these mouse models, as in people.”

In the next episode, we will learn more about IL-2 and its effectiveness.

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