Novel Treatment Kills Lymphoma While Sparing Healthy Cells

For lymphoma treatment, the addition of molecule Sialyl-Lewis X to natural killer cells delays the growth of lymphomas.

Lymphomas are a group of cancers that begin in the infection-fighting cells of the immune system called lymphocytes. A new promising strategy has been developed for treating lymphomas.

The study conducted by scientists at Scripps Research is published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

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‘For the treatment of lymphoma, the addition of molecule Sialyl-Lewis X to natural killer cells delays the growth of lymphomas. It can also be added to cell-based anticancer treatments to treat solid tumors and other highly localized cancers.’
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The novel approach uses natural killer cells that have been modified to selectively target lymphomas. Natural killer (NK) cells are the body’s cancer-targeting immune cells.

The modified natural killer cells show a reduction of lymphoma in the mouse. This approach helps to achieve selectivity in targeting lymphoma cells.

The study was conducted by co-senior author Peng Wu, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research in collaboration with the lab of co-senior author James Paulson, PhD, the Cecil H. and Ida Green Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research.

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Lymphoma and Natural Killer Cells

In the United States approximately 85,000 people are newly diagnosed with lymphoma and more than 20,000 people die of lymphoma in a year.Most of the lymphomas arise from B cells which is an important type of lymphocyte whose main function is to make antibodies.

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Some of the current lymphoma treatments act by B-cell-killing antibodies and CAR-T cell therapy that target B cells and kill them indiscriminately. An adverse effect of this strategy is that it includes months of immunosuppression due to low antibody levels that increase the risk for infection.

The researchers made a more specific approach by using natural killer cells. Natural killer cells are immune cells present in the bloodstream and tissues, seeking and destroying virus-infected or cancerous cells. They can recognize certain surface molecules that indicate damage or malignancy within the cell. They can kill the target cells by different methods like secreting proteins that makes holes in the cell’s outer membrane.

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Modifying Natural Killer Cells

Canadian researchers in the early 1990s had developed a special type of NK cell called NK-92 from a patient with a rare NK-cell cancer. Previous research has shown that NK-92 cells are effective at killing various kinds of cancer cells. Minimal side effects were seen. A type of NK-92 cells called NK-92MI cells that are easier-to-multiply is being studied widely for its use to fight various cancers.

As they are spread throughout the body once they enter the bloodstream, NK-92MI cells are not ideal fighting cancers, specifically for advanced malignancies. The researchers used chemistry techniques to modify these cells to concentrate NK-92MI cells cancer-fighting power against lymphoma.

Guiding the NK Cells Cancer-Fighting Properties

Initially, the scientists re-engineered NK-92MI cells to include a surface molecule that binds to a B-cell surface receptor CD22. However this strategy did not work in mouse models. The team added a new molecule called Sialyl-Lewis X to their NK cells. This made the cells gather in the bone marrow in between the lymphoma cells which delayed the development of lymphoma in mice.

By adding molecules such as Sialyl-Lewis X to cell-based anticancer treatments increases the cancer-killing power at the site of cancer, and may be a key to the success of these treatment-particularly against solid tumors and other highly localized cancers.

Source-Medindia