share:
This news release, issued by Johns Hopkins Medicine, describes a novel targeted immunotherapy approach. This new approach employs bispecific antibodies to treat cancer by eliciting a Tcell response against mutated p53. The researchers used the Highly Automated Macromolecular Crystallography (AMX) and Frontier Microfocusing Macromolecular Crystallography (FMX) beamlines to characterize the molecular structure of the proteins. AMX and FMX are beamlines at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory. NSLS-II offers a comprehensive suite of life science research capabilities. Johns Hopkins media contacts: Amy Mone, 410-614-2915, amone@jhmi.edu, or Valerie Mehl, 410-614-2916, mehlva@jhmi.edu. Brookhaven Lab media contacts: Cara Laasch, 631-344-8458, laasch@bnl.gov or Peter Genzer, 631-344-3174, genzer@bnl.gov.
E-Mail
IMAGE: Novel cancer immunotherapy approach inverts a missing gene copy into an immune cell-activating signal. view more
Credit: Elizabeth Cook
Researchers developed a prototype for a new cancer immunotherapy that uses engineered T cells to target a genetic alteration common among all cancers. The approach, which stimulates an immune response against cells that are missing one gene copy, called loss of heterozygosity (LOH), was developed by researchers at the Ludwig Center, Lustgarten Laboratory and the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.
Genes have two alleles, or copies, with one copy inherited from each parent. Cancer-related genetic alterations commonly involve the loss of one of these gene copies.
Researchers develop mutant gene-targeted immunotherapy approach to fight cancers
A novel targeted immunotherapy approach developed by researchers at the Ludwig Center, the Lustgarten Laboratory, and Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center employs new antibodies against genetically altered proteins to target cancers.
The researchers targeted their immunotherapy approach to alterations in the common cancer-related p53 tumor suppressor gene, the RAS tumor-promoting oncogene or T-cell receptor genes. They also tested the therapy on cancer cells in the laboratory and in animal tumor models. Their findings are reported in three related studies published March 1 in
Science Immunology,
Studies reveal the promise of newly engineered bispecific antibodies against tumor cells news-medical.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from news-medical.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Antibodies Deplete Cancer Cells in Mice and Human Cell Lines by Angela Mohan on March 2, 2021 at 12:14 PM
Science,
Science Immunology.
Some immunotherapy approaches against cancers rely on common cancer-related mutations to serve as antigens; they instigate an immune response to the cancer.
Although it is one of the most common mutant tumor suppressor genes known in human cancers, the cancer-related p53 tumor suppressor gene has not been successfully targeted via this approach.
In
Science, Emily Han-Chung Hsiue and colleagues successfully engineered a bispecific antibody to reactivate p53. Hsiue et al. first identified a distinct targetable fragment of the mutant tumor suppressor protein and characterized the structural basis for how the fragment is presented to T cells.