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Cancer

Targeted Therapies Get a Boost with Immunotherapy-Inspired Approach

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

A team of researchers from Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health has devised a novel strategy to enhance the effectiveness of targeted therapies, which are commonly used to treat cancer. By combining these therapies with immunotherapies, the team has developed a platform that can detect cancer-causing proteins and recruit the immune system to attack cancer cells.

Key Takeaways:

  • The study shows that covalent inhibitors, which are a type of targeted therapy, can form stable attachments with disease-related proteins inside cancer cells, making them visible to the immune system.
  • The researchers engineered antibodies that can recognize these proteins displayed on the surface of cancer cells, allowing the immune system to target and kill the cancer cells.
  • The platform was effective against KRAS p.G12C mutant cells with different MHC types, also known as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) supertypes.
  • The team's antibodies recognize multiple MHC/HLA types, making it possible to treat 40 to 50 percent of the U.S. patient population with tumors bearing KRAS p.G12C.
  • The approach has the potential to increase the efficacy of any cancer drug when attached to the drug's target protein.

Statistics:

  • The platform was effective against 40-50% of the U.S. patient population with tumors bearing KRAS p.G12C.
  • The researchers used two FDA-approved targeted drugs, sotorasib and osimertinib, in their study.
  • The team's antibodies recognized multiple MHC/HLA types, which could potentially be deployed in 40-50% of the U.S. patient population.
  • The study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R21 CA246457, R21 CA267362, and R01 CA248896.
  • The research was also supported by Perlmutter Cancer Center Support grant P30CA016087.

Sources:

  • NYU Langone Hospitals
  • Cancer Discover, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research
  • National Institutes of Health grants R21 CA246457, R21 CA267362, and R01 CA248896
  • Perlmutter Cancer Center Support grant P30CA016087

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