By building on the revolutionary advancements in immunotherapy, Prof. Huntington is looking to help the ‘natural killer cells’ in the body’s immune system to detect and destroy tumour cells that are tricking the immune system into thinking they belong.
“Hot tumours have characteristics that can be detected by immune cells and are more responsive to immunotherapy. However, many tumours lack these characteristics. These tumours are called ‘cold tumours’, which do not respond to immunotherapy.”
By administering new therapies before commencement of immunotherapy in pre-clinical trials, Prof. Huntington has been able to turn cold tumours hot, assisting the body’s natural killer cells to locate these toxic agents and destroy them.
Flagging tumours for destruction
While immunotherapy has proven effective for certain cancer types, there are many more that could benefit if the right conditions can be created for immune cells to infiltrate. Causing inflammation to the tumour, essentially makes it a ‘red flag’ to the immune system, which has very real potential to be another game-changer in cancer treatment and care.
Supported by Cancer Council Victoria’s Grants-in Aid program, it is the investment by generous donors who supported cancer research through initiatives like Cancer Research Giving Day and the Breakthrough Research Fund that is making this high-quality research possible.
As Prof. Huntington said, “Turning ‘cold’ immune silent tumours into ‘hot’ immune rich tumours is a holy grail of tumour immunotherapy.” Through their research, the team has identified toxic agents that not only make tumour cells more visible to the body’s own natural killers but are also effective in killing the tumour.
“Our discovery is sort of a two-for-one deal,” says Prof. Huntington. “We can now kill the tumour cell directly, but we can also prime a better immune response. It is very exciting.”
The hope is that through targeted therapies that assist the immune system’s natural response, tumour cells will be less likely to evade the immune system and develop a resistance to therapy.
“Some targeted cancer therapy approaches are not terribly specific. The immune system is really good at recognising healthy tissue from diseased tissue, whereas most of the drugs for cancer can’t really distinguish what is healthy and what is dangerous. They can still affect healthy cells,” Prof. Huntington said.
“By combining therapies that can directly target the cancer cell, along with therapies that target the immune system, it will allow for a more specific and deeper response against the tumour.”
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In its pre-clinical phase, Prof. Huntington’s research has identified two chemical drugs, and one antibody, which brings the immune system into play. Pharmaceutical companies are now looking at this type of combination to treat melanoma in early phase trials.
If this project is completed successfully, it will lead to new clinical trials to increase immunotherapy response rates in a wide range of cancer types.
“The funding we’ve received from Cancer Council Victoria has allowed us to test this robustly in a number of different models and get a better idea of the kinetics of how these therapies are working,” said Prof. Huntington.
“We hope our research can go on to have an impact on solid cancers, including lung, breast, colon and brain tumours.”