Author: Zong Hua Release Date: 2018-10-25
An unusual strategy for injecting live bacteria into tumors may help some cancer patients. Image source: iStock.com
Data presented at the 4th International Conference on Cancer Immunotherapy held in New York, USA, show that although "live bacteria" and "cancer treatment" may not sound like promising pairs, specific bacteria seem to be able to be injected. Tumor growth is delayed after tumors. Of course, there are still security issues with this approach. However, considering that many patients are resistant or unresponsive to existing cancer therapies, bacterial injections have generated enough interest to become part of a new clinical trial that combines bacteria with established immunotherapies.
The study was a response to an ancient experiment more than 100 years ago. In the 1890s, oncologist William Coley began injecting a mixture of killed bacteria into inoperable cancer patients. Coley reported the success of this approach, while "Cory Toxin" was sold as a cancer therapy in the United States until the 1960s. However, other doctors questioned Coley's results. The therapy has also gradually been replaced by chemotherapy and radiation as the standard of cancer treatment.
Four years ago, a large team of cancer scientists suggested that bacterial injections may still be an effective way to treat cancer. In a paper published in Science-Transformation Medicine, they describe how a tumor of 6 dogs shrinks when 16 dogs with solid tumors are injected with live Novobacterium sp. Clostridium replicas. Even disappeared. In this study, the team first removed the toxin-producing genes from living bacteria. The team was encouraged by the well-tested dog test and also treated a 53-year-old female leiomyosarcoma patient. The tumor in the patient also showed atrophy, although she subsequently sought other cancer therapies.
Today, this patient is one of many patients. In an additional clinical work led by medical oncologist Filip Janku of the University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center (one of the above research team members four years ago), 23 patients with advanced sarcoma or other solid tumors - from breast cancer to melanoma - The patient received a single injection containing 10,000 to 3 million Clostridium spores. The team was shocked and excited about the anti-tumor effect of the bacteria. The cancer of 19 patients, including the first woman, stabilized. This means that the tumors in their bodies do not continue to grow after treatment. Janku said that although the injection is topical, the bacteria appear to be stable and reduce tumor growth in other parts of the body.
Janku and colleagues concluded that the inflammatory response to spores may have produced key anti-cancer immune actions. The researchers found evidence in 11 patients—fever, pain, and swelling caused by spore germination near the injection site.
This strategy is so new that scientists don't determine if the dose will have an effect. The number of spores injected into the body has proven to be a key safety consideration: two patients receiving the highest dose of 6 have developed gangrene and sepsis, a life-threatening response to infection. The third patient, also in the higher dose group, also had sepsis.
“We have not made in-depth research on the relevant machines,†Janku said. Non-spore bacteria release various enzymes that break down tumor cells and, like any intruder, can bring the immune system into an inflammatory state that may simultaneously target the tumor mass. But the details are still a mystery.
However, tumor-based blocks have remained stable in so many patients, "you know that this method is working," said immunologist Dzana Dervovic of the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Institute in Canada.
It is understood that these patients who were treated in 2013~2017 only had one injection and then sought other treatments. For more information, with the support of the two companies, Janku launched another small trial earlier this year to test the efficacy of Clostridium combined with a “checkpoint suppression†drug. The drug helps release the immune system against the tumor. These drugs are an increasingly popular immunotherapy strategy and won the Nobel Prize this year. (Zong Hua)
Chinese Journal of Science and Technology (2018-10-24 3rd Edition International)
Source: Chinese Journal of Science
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