A team of American bioengineers has developed implantable “mini-drug factories” in the body that fight cancer very effectively.
Encouraging news for thousands of patients. American scientists have developed a new immunotherapy treatment that eradicate cancer advanced-stage ovarian and colorectal cancer, according to a study published in the scientific journal Science Advances on March 2, 2022. The team of bioengineers at Rice University in Houston created “mini drug factories”, small balls the size of a pinhead, which are implanted in the body of patients via minimally invasive surgery. These mini-factories constantly manufacture and release interleukin 2, a natural compound that activates white blood cells to fight cancer, says the university in a statement.
“We only give the drug once, but the drug factories continue to make the dose every day, where it’s needed, until the cancer is gone”, explains Omid Veiseh, one of the creators of this experimental treatment. As part of the study, the mini-factories were placed next to tumors and inside the peritoneum, the membrane that covers several organs like the intestines, vagina, uterus, and ovaries. Result: this treatment eliminated “tumors in 100% of mice with ovarian cancer and in seven out of eight mice with colorectal cancer”, in just six days.
Clinical trials this year
So far, this treatment has only been tested on mice, but the results are very promising and it could be tested on humans from fall 2022 in clinical trials, to help cancer patients as quickly as possible, according to Omid Veiseh. This new therapeutic approach, whose research has been funded in particular by the Texas Institute for Cancer Research and Prevention, could also be used to treat cancers of the pancreas, liver, lungs and other organs, says Amanda Nash, co-author of the study. Especially since treatments based on cytokines – same family as interleukin 2 – have already proven their effectiveness on other cancers such as metastatic melanoma and renal carcinoma and their use is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.