Cancer researchers made a groundbreaking discovery by developing an
ultimate antibody, a single treatment that has been shown to kill every
type of cancer it was tested on.
The latest developments are based on research that began a decade ago
at Stanford School of Medicine, where researchers discovered a link
between cancer cells and high levels of a protein called CD47 while
studying leukemia. Irving Weissman, the biologist behind the
breakthrough, continued to study CD47 and found a CD47-blocking antibody
that could cure some cases of leukemia by stimulating the immune system
to recognize cancer cells as invaders.
Now, Weissman has established a link between CD47 and most of primary
caners that affect humans, finding that cancer cells always had higher
levels of CD47 than healthy cells. The inordinate amounts of CD47
produced by the cancer cells effectively trick the immune system into
not destroying the cancer cells.
"What we've shown is that CD47 isn't just important on leukemias and lymphomas," Weissman told Science magazine. "It's on every single human primary tumor that we tested."
Weissman and his team used that observation to develop an antibody
that blocks cancer cells' CD47, causing the body's immune system to
attack the cancerous cells.
In tests on laboratory mice infected with a litany human cancers -
breast, ovarian, colon, bladder, brain, liver prostate - the antibody
was shown to force the mice's immune systems to kill the tumorous cells.
"We showed that even after the tumor has taken hold, the antibody can
either cure the tumor or slow its growth and prevent metastasis," said
Weissman.
The next step is for clinical tests in humans, which should be
underway thanks to a $20 million grant by the California Institute for
Regenerative Medicine to move the findings to human safety tests, which
was granted in 2012, after the study took place.
"We have enough data already that I can say I'm confident that this will move to phase I human trials," said Weissman.
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