New Treatment Protects Lungs from Metastatic Cancer

A new treatment was developed that slowed down tumor growth in the lungs and also prevented the spread of cancers to the lungs.

A new treatment developed using a virus that grows in black-eyed pea plants keeps metastatic cancers away from the lungs. The research is published in the journal Advanced Science.

Cancer spread to the lungs is one of the most common forms of metastasis in various cancers Once it is developed there, it is extremely deadly and difficult to treat. To overcome this, researchers developed an experimental treatment that combats this spread.

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‘Lung protein targeted plant virus can be used as a prophylactic and therapeutic immunotherapy against metastatic lung cancer.’

This new treatment involves a bodily injection of a plant virus called the cowpea mosaic virus. The virus is harmless to animals and humans, but it still registers as a foreign invader that triggers an immune response to fight against cancer effectively.

To draw this immune response to lung tumors, researchers engineered nanoparticles made from the cowpea mosaic virus to target a protein called S100A9, which is expressed and secreted by immune cells that help fight infection in the lungs.

“Because these nanoparticles tend to localize in the lungs, they can change the tumor microenvironment there to become more adept at fighting off cancer—not just established tumors, but future tumors as well,” said Eric Chung, a bioengineering Ph.D. student in Steinmetz’s lab who is one of the co-first authors on the paper.

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Researchers grew black-eyed pea plants in the lab, infected them with cowpea mosaic virus, and harvested the virus in the form of ball-shaped nanoparticles. Later, they attached S100A9-targeting molecules to the surfaces of the particles.

Researchers also performed both prevention and treatment studies. In the prevention studies, they first injected the plant virus nanoparticles into the bloodstreams of healthy mice, and then later injected either triple negative breast cancer or melanoma cells in these mice. Treated mice showed a dramatic reduction in cancers spreading to their lungs compared to untreated mice.

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In the treatment studies, the researchers administered the nanoparticles to mice with metastatic tumor in their lungs. These mice exhibited smaller lung tumors and survived longer than untreated mice.

Before the new treatment reaches clinical stage, researchers need to do more detailed immunotoxicity and pharmacology studies. Future studies will also explore combining this with other treatments such as chemotherapy, checkpoint drugs or radiation.

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Source-Medindia