An implant even smaller than a grain of rice could fight a silent cancer, pancreatic cancer.
If it depends on the ongoing studies, cancer treatment will reach a new level in the coming years. In addition to mRNA vaccines and CAR-T therapy, scientists are investigating the use of a tiny implant, made of stainless steel and loaded with monoclonal antibodies, to attack the pancreas cancer. the device is smaller than a grain of rice.
The use of implants in cancer treatment is investigated by scientists from the Houston Methodist Research Institute, in the United States. So far, the team has tested the strategy on rodents with cancer and obtained very positive results, according to a study published in the journal Advanced Science.
It should be noted that, as tumors in the pancreas tend to be diagnosed in advanced stages, the treatment tends to be complex and the therapy must necessarily be more effective. According to the authors, about 85% of patients have metastases when they discover the disease. It’s a silent cancer.
In potential treatment, researchers load the implant with CD40 monoclonal antibodies (mAb). The use of antibodies is already considered a promising immunotherapeutic agent. The problem is that, currently, most treatments involve deliberately applying antibodies to the patient’s body, which eventually causes unwanted side effects.
In this case, the idea is to use a targeted implant that attaches to the pancreas tumor. Another difference is that drug release occurs in low doses and in a sustained manner. It is as if the patient were in constant treatment. Theoretically, the strategy reduces side effects.
In tests with rodents, the potential treatment was responsible for the reduction in tumor size. According to the authors, the effect was achieved with a quarter of the medication used in traditional immunotherapiesconfirming the hypothesis of lower risk of adverse effects.
Furthermore, in one of the animals, the implant was placed in only one of the tumors in the pancreas, although there were others. The unexpected effect is that the medication had an impact on both, even if one of them was not directly connected with the source of the medication.
“Local treatment with immunotherapy was able to activate the immune response to target other tumors,” says Corrine Ying Xuan Chua, co-author of the study, in announcement.
Despite the positive preliminary results, tests with the new therapy against metastasis in the pancreas continue. The expectation is that, if all goes well, the treatment will hit the market in the next five years.
