Koustav Maiti, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College, Rahara
Cancer can be defined by two properties: 1. They reproduce cells by the violation of normal cell growth and division, and 2. They occupy other regions conserved for other normal cells by the properties of invasion and metastasis. Metastasis is the most important character of cancer cells that makes cancer so dangerous and harmful and it is also the main cause of cancer-related deaths. Metastasis is the ability by which the cancer cells can spread to the other regions of the body from their origin by penetrating lymphatic and blood vessels and circulating through blood cells.
Scientists of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have produced genetically engineered immune cells (Myeloid Cells) that can transfer anticancer signals to the other organs where cancer may spread in the future. In a study of mice, treatment with this kind of genetically engineered myeloid cells (GEMys) prevented the spreading of cancer in other parts of the body. It is very difficult to treat metastatic cancer as it spreads all over the body. Cancer sends a signal to other target parts before it arrives in that particular region. They inspected the character of immune cells in the premetastatic niche. Scientists studied mice implanted with rhabdomyosarcoma (A type of cancer that initially develops in the muscles of children and then often spreads in their lungs). They observed the lungs of the mice when the cancer was already formed in the leg muscle (but not spreading in the lungs yet). The immune system was also present to attack cancer but choked the lungs at the same time.
When cancer progressed, myeloid cells (Parts of the body’s 1st line of response to injury, infection, and cancer) were present in more numbers at the premetastatic niche. In normal conditions, the Myeloid cells produce interleukin 12 (IL-12) to alert or activate other immune cells of the body. But in this case, Myeloid cells released signals to immune cells to stop fighting against cancer cells. The researchers used genetically engineered extra genes to IL-12 to myeloid cells from lab mice.
The mice having rhabdomyosarcoma produced IL-12 in the primary site after using GEMys. GEMys activated the cancer-killing immune cells and decreased the signals that repressed the immune system of the body. By using GMEys, the lab mice had less metastatic cancer in the lungs and less tumor in muscles and they also lived longer. This kind of good result was also observed in the case of pancreatic tumours that spread to the liver. The scientists also found that using chemotherapy before GMEys cured mice could remove all traces of cancer. This type of combinatory treatment also gave a long-lasting immune memory.
The researchers also made GMEys from human cells grown in the laboratory. These engineered myeloid cells also produced IL-12 to activate the cancer-killing immune cells. But the human trial is under planned for safety-related issues. This discovery of GMEys can be used as a potential treatment for metastatic cancer.
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Source:Genetically engineered myeloid cells rebalance the core immune suppression program in metastasis; Sabina Kaczanowska, Daniel W. Beury et al.; Cell; March 24, 2021; doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.02.048
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