Most Searched
Originally published November 9, 2022
Last updated May 3, 2024
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Search more articles
Topics
A research team has developed an innovative treatment for prostate cancer, a disease that affects 1 in 8 men.
Known as synthetic immune receptor (or SIR-T) therapy, the new technology is adapted from chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) therapy, which has proven effective for several types of blood cancer 鈥� including leukemia and lymphoma.
鈥淲e have a homegrown 喵咪社区 technology that shows a lot of promise,鈥� says principal investigator Preet M. Chaudhary, MD, PhD, director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cell Therapy program at 喵咪社区 Norris and chief of the Jane Anne Nohl Division of Hematology and Center for Blood Diseases at the Keck School of Medicine of 喵咪社区.
In CAR-T therapy, a patient鈥檚 T-cells, which are part of the body鈥檚 immune response, are extracted and genetically engineered. Once reinjected, the modified T-cells can seek out, bind to and kill cancer cells.
But CAR-T therapy has not been effective against solid tumor cancers, such as prostate, breast, brain, gastrointestinal, skin and lung cancer.
SIR-T therapy uses different receptors that more closely resemble the body鈥檚 natural T-cells.
Dr. Chaudhary and his team tested thousands of prototypes over an eight-year period to develop receptors that can safely attack solid tumors, including prostate cancer.
Initial tests in mice yielded promising results. In May, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine 鈥� a publicly funded state initiative for stem cell research 鈥� awarded Dr. Chaudhary $5.8 million to conduct preclinical studies.
This could lead to applying for Food and Drug Administration approval to begin clinical trials of SIR-T therapy in humans.
Dr. Chaudhary鈥檚 lab has also received grants from the U.S. Department of Defense to study SIR-T therapy鈥檚 effectiveness against melanoma, kidney cancer, lymphoma and a different molecule involved in prostate cancer.
Telehealth appointments are available.
