Scientists managed to produce a version of synthetic mRNA that activates cells to combat metastases. A “care” for now only to study, but which could be revolutionary.
In the last decade we have witnessed a remarkable progress in the care of over two hundred different types of primary cancer, that is, located in a certain organ. However, cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body through blood or sap giving origin to metastases, that is, secondary tumors. So it happens that many patients who have been successfully operated on each time again, sometimes without many chances of surviving. For tens of years, research has been looking for a winning strategy to block this perverse mechanism but had to clash with countless complications.
Cancer cells primarily create a micro -environment that facilitates the formation of secondary tumors where the interaction between carcinogenic cells, Immune cells and sick tissue is difficult to control.
However, one thing is clear is that there is a small population of anti-metastasis immune cells, which could be compared to sentinels of the carcinogenic ones. In recent years, scientists have tried to intervene on these cells to promote their ability to fight the sick ones and prevent metastases.
This line of research today marks a huge step forward thanks to the work of a group of Japanese scientists from the Shinshu University School of Medicine in Matsumoto who have managed to produce a version of Synthetic Messenger RNA (S-MRNA) capable of activating two types of anti-metastase immune cells, the so-called “natural killer cells” (NK) and T lymphocytes citotoxic (CTL), so as to make them capable of destroying cancer cells.
If clinical trials on human beings should confirm the effectiveness of this strategy (For now, experimentally demonstrated only on mice and in vitro on human cells of colon and lung cancer), this synthetic mRNA can be administered intravenously to those who have been hit by a tumor in an organ to prevent the formation of secondary cancerous degenerations.
“The study is the last of a series of research that aims to inhibit the proteins that the tumor produces to reprogram or destroy the cells of our immune system” says Paolo Vezzoni, manager of the Genetic and Biomedical Research Institute – Irgb of the CNR (National Research Council), “the novelty lies in being able to build a synthetic RNA capable of not degrading as it happens with the natural mRNA manipulations ».
In the experiments of Japanese researchers it was found that the mice to which the primary tumor was removed, After the treatment with the mRNA they had significantly less foci of metastases than the control group. Not only that. Scientists have picked up human immune cells made dysfunctional by colon cancer and inserted the synthetic mRNA with the result of putting them able to kill 70 percent of carcinogenic cells.
Less than a year ago a therapeutic vaccine was created based on the messenger for the prevention of lung cancer. It’s called BNT116, it is produced by Biontech and is indicated for non -small cell lung cancer, which represents 90 percent of the tumor that affects this organ. Able to instruct the immune system to find and kill sick cells, preventing their return, the development of the vaccine is in clinical experimentation on human beings.
In reading the term “mRNA” about the work of researchers, many readers will wonder if there is a relationship with the vaccine under experimentation. “The two strategies are different from each other,” explains Vezzoni. “While the BNT116 vaccine stimulates the production of protein associated with lung cancer, making the body mount an immune response against the cancer cells that contain them, the synthetic mRNA administered by Japanese scientists inhibits the production of cytokines that block anti-metastase immune cells. In general, the first vaccines were based on bacteria or viruses that stimulated the immune system to react.
Now, in the case of lung cancer, a further step has been made: to be introduced into the body is directly the Messenger RNA that enters the cell and stimulates the production of proteins with a role that fights the disease. In this study, beyond the differences, we see a further progress: the modification of the Messengerna which makes it more resistant to degradation, before the introduction into the patient “.
Japanese researchers also performed a transplant of human cellular lines of patient with lung cancer on mice. These animals have no NK and T immune cells like us, but have a high rate of roasting of our cells.
The results showed that the treatment with the synthetic mRNA reduced the lung metastases induced on mice. Pulmonary metastases were therefore evaluated in the study, but not other types of degenerations.
Thus the scientists have concluded that as regards those to other organs other than the lung, there is a need for further evaluation, although it is likely that anti-storastatic therapy based on S-MRNA can also be applied in those cases. “Only when clinical trials on humans will be made can we be sure of the effectiveness of the treatment,” he warns Vezzoni. “We must not forget that the successful therapeutic strategies emerged recently work in some patients but not in others and often does not understand why. It is legitimate to imagine that, in the best possible cases, the synthetic messenger RNA will improve survival rates possibly administered in combination with other therapies “.
