Researchers from the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology demonstrate the efficacy of the drug against glioblastoma
Researchers at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) have demonstrated the ePreclinical efficacy of a new antibody-based immunological drug that is capable of achieving regression of glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive brain tumor.
The research, led by the oncologist and co-director of the VHIO Preclinical and Translational Research Program, Joan Seoane, has achieved “extraordinary results” in preclinical models of this type of tumorso the new drug could mean “a break from the current paradigm in the treatment of this disease,” the VHIO noted on Tuesday.
The journal ‘Molecular Cancer Therapeutics’ has just published the results of the preclinical study of this drug, carried out both with “in vitro” models and “in vivo” models, using samples from glioblastoma patients.
“This study is especially important because an immunotherapy has been found to work in the treatment of glioblastoma. If we take into account that it is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumorand that there is a great need to develop new treatments against this disease, I believe that the results of this preclinical study, which will now be validated in a clinical trial with patients, are very relevant”, Seoane stressed.
Although immunotherapy has brought about a revolution in the approach to cancer in recent years, it still does not have the same efficacy in all tumors and currently only a relatively small fraction of tumors respond to these treatments.
In order to overcome this challenge, the VHIO team has developed bispecific antibodies that help recruit immune cells (T cells) to destroy tumor cells.
The bispecific antibodies bind, on the one hand, to the tumor cells and, on the other, to the T cells so that the latter come into contact with the tumor and eliminate it.
For the development of these antibodies, it is necessary to have specific targets for tumor cells that make these antibodies bind only to tumor cells and do not cause the immune system to end up attacking healthy cells as well.
The search for these targets isá limiting the development of these strategies in solid tumorssince it is difficult to find targets that are expressed on the surface of tumor cells and are not shared by healthy cells.
“In the specific case of glioblastoma, there is a mutation of the EGFR gene, known as variant III, which is specific and specific to this type of tumor and is not shared by any healthy cell. This makes it an ideal target for the development of targeted therapies, although it is only present in 25% of glioblastomas,” Seoane explained.
The good results achieved in the preclinical validation phase of this drug have served to launch a phase I clinical trial who is already recruiting patients.
The research has been financed mainly by State Lotteries and Gambling, through the Spanish Association Against Cancer, as well as the FERO Foundation and the Comprehensive Cancer Immunotherapy and Immunology Program (CAIMI) of the BBVA Foundation at the VHIO.