In a new development, scientists have weaponized patients’ own immune cells to combat metastatic colon cancer. This innovative approach, which genetically enhances lymphocytes to target and destroy cancer cells, has shown promising results in a recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) trial. Lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell generated in bone marrow, are found in blood, lymph tissue, and lymphoid organs like the thymus, spleen, and lymph nodes.
The two main types are B-cells, which produce antibodies to attack invading pathogens, and T-cells, which destroy virus-infected or cancerous cells. The new therapy builds on successes with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies, extending their application to solid tumors. CAR T-cell therapy uses T-cells from a patient’s blood, while TIL therapy uses T-cells from a patient’s tumor.
Doctors then grow and strengthen more of these cells before returning them to the body to attack the cancer. The new approach isolates specific T-cell receptors that recognize unique tumor antigens, creates modified lymphocytes in a lab, and reintroduces them into the patient’s body. The study included seven participants with metastatic colon cancer.
Three patients showed tumor shrinkage, primarily in the liver, lungs, and lymph nodes. Sustained tumor control was up to seven months. About 20 percent of immune cells in one patient still carried the engineered receptors two years post-treatment.