New cancer treatment could revolutionize how we tackle the disease
Cambridge scientists have come up with a new way to treat cancer that's much safer for the body.
Their method uses the immune system's STING pathway, but avoids the usual risk of causing harmful inflammation in healthy areas.
The trick? A special "caged" drug that only switches on when it finds an enzyme unique to tumors.
The 2-part system
The team designed a two-part system using a "caged" STING agonist called MSA2.
It stays inactive until it meets b-glucuronidase—an enzyme produced by tumors and not typically found in healthy tissue—so it boosts the immune response right where it's needed and leaves healthy tissue alone.
Lead researcher Goncalo Bernardes described it as "This is like sending two safe packages into the body that only unlock and combine when they meet the tumor's unique chemistry."
Potential for other medicines
In animal tests recently published, the caged drug targeted tumors almost exclusively in mice and zebrafish engineered to have the right enzyme.
This approach could not only lead to safer cancer treatments but might also help deliver other medicines more precisely in the future.