Nanoparticle Therapeutics Against Chest Wall Pathology — Malignant Pleural Effusion (MPE)

Nanoparticle therapeutic enhances cancer immunotherapy — a possible new approach in treating chest wall pathology, malignant pleural effusion (MPE) as per a study at Wake Forest School of Medicine published in the Nature Nanotechnology. MPE is defined as the accumulation of fluid between the chest wall and lungs and is accompanied by malignant cells and/or tumors. Almost 200,000 people are diagnosed with MPE annually in the US.

“MPE is indicative of late-stage metastatic cancer and is associated with a poor prognosis with an average survival of only four to nine months. MPE can also severely impact the quality of life as it causes breathlessness, pain, weight loss, and reduced physical activity,” says Dawen Zhao, MD, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Novel Therapy against MPE

In addition, the abundance of tumor-associated immune cells in MPE prevents the recognition and elimination of cancer by the body’s immune system.

To overcome this normal physiological failure, the team developed a nanoparticle — liposomal cyclic dinucleotide (LNP-CDN) for targeted activation of an immune pathway called STING. This helps reprogram tumor-associated immune cells to active anti-tumor ones.

It was observed that the combination of LNP-CDN with anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy (novel immunotherapy) resulted in prolonged survival by drastically reducing the volume of MPE and inhibiting the tumor growth in both the pleural cavity and lung tissue of mice with MPE.

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“Administered alone or with immunotherapy, this study demonstrates a possible treatment for MPE. Given the current prognosis of MPE patients, new interventions are needed to not only prolong survival, but also to improve quality of life,” says, Zhao.

Source-Medindia