How can magnets fight cancer?
Numerous cutting edge treatments involve awakening or modulating the immune system against cancer using cytokines, antibodies and immune cells. Engineered T cells have shown good results against blood cancers, but similar trials against solid tumours have shown challenges associated with poor trafficking to the tumour and a hostile tumour microenvironment. Undertaken with the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, the CellularNanoMachines project aimed to guide and improve the survival of these cells to significantly enhance their clinical efficacy. The project has now been featured in the new CORDIS series of explanatory videos titled Make the Connection with EU Science. “Our goal was to control and modulate the in vivo behaviour of T lymphocytes through the use of nanoparticles,” explains the MSCA research fellow Javier Hernández-Gil. The team exploited two options: attaching nanoparticles to cell surface receptors and having them internalised by cells using bioconjugate chemistry. The resultant ‘magnetic cells’ retained their function following the incorporation of nanoparticles, and could be guided towards a magnet. Future work involves going a step further from the initial project and developing a strategy for the design of smart cell-based machines, hybrid systems capable of producing synergistic effects between nanoparticles, small metal compounds and immune cells.
Explanatory note
‘Make the connection with EU-science’ is a series of explanatory videos focusing on the scientific content and exploitation aspects of EU research projects. You can watch and/or download this video here: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-234882 If you have any feedback, we’re always happy to hear from you! Send us any comments, questions or suggestions (but hopefully never a complaint!) to the usual email address, editorial@cordis.europa.eu.
Keywords
CellularNanoMachines, nanoparticle, immune cells, cancer, hybrid, T lymphocytes, immunotherapy, biodistribution