New therapy reactivates immune response against cancer by blocking protein

Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron hospital researchers develop promising treatment for patients with aggressive tumors

 

Doctor Joan Seoane, lead VHIO investigador, with fellow researchers Mónica Pascual-García and Ester Bonfill-Teixidor in their lab on June 7, 2019 (Laura Fíguls/ACN)
Doctor Joan Seoane, lead VHIO investigador, with fellow researchers Mónica Pascual-García and Ester Bonfill-Teixidor in their lab on June 7, 2019 (Laura Fíguls/ACN) / ACN

ACN | Barcelona

June 11, 2019 02:06 PM

Researchers in Catalonia have developed a therapy that reactivates the anti-cancer alarm system in patients with especially aggressive tumors with high levels of the LIF protein. This protein has been found in mainly brain, ovarian, pancreatic and lung tumors and it tends to turn off the body’s immune response to the tumor as well as to promote the proliferation of tumor stem cells.

Vall d'Hebron Oncology Institute (VHIO) researchers showed that they could stop the spread of cancer cells and reactivate the body's anti-tumor immune response by inhibiting LIF. Inhibiting LIF could, as a result, help prevent metastasis and relapses.

The results of the research were published in the 'Nature Communications' journal, with the new therapy now undergoing phase I clinical trials in Catalonia, the US and Canada.