A medicine has been created that "tunes" the body to fight cancer

Modern pharmacological industryalready created a huge amount of drugs. However, as you know, our body also has, so to speak, an “integrated” system for combating various pathologies. This system is called "immunity." And he is capable of much. Even if its features may not seem so obvious. For example, not so long ago, a group of researchers from Yale University created a substance that rearranges the immune system so that the latter destroys cancer cells.

It turns out that the immune system can defeat cancer. All she needs is a little help

How to deal with cancer?

According to the university’s website,A research team led by school staff Akiko Iwasaki and Anna Pyle examined whether a synthetic RNA molecule designed to fight viruses can also trigger an immune response against tumors. The molecule, dubbed Stem Loop RNA 14 (SLR14), was specifically designed to activate a gene that detects viruses and other threats in cells.

Our idea is to imitateviral infection inside the tumor, spoofing the immune system. This will force her to pay attention to the "infection" and destroy it, simultaneously destroying the tumor process. - says Akiko Iwasaki.

To test this theory, researchers conducteda series of experiments. They introduced SLR14 directly into tumors in mice and observed the destruction of cancer by the T cells of the immune system. Moreover, the introduction of a molecule in one place also stimulated T cells in order to start working in another area of ​​the body affected by oncology. On the pages of our portal we often write about this kind of research, so if you are interested in this topic, then subscribe to our news channel in Telegram.

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In another experiment, scientists imitatedcancer metastasis, spreading tumor cells throughout the body. Scientists injected them through the left ventricle of the heart of rodents to spread cells into as many organs as possible. Yes, this doesn’t sound completely humane, but otherwise, unfortunately, it simply won’t work to test the hypothesis. The results showed that SLR14 therapy for metastatic tumors is also effective.

Further study of the action of the drugshowed that SLR14 is comparable in effectiveness to existing drugs for cancer immunotherapy and can enhance their antitumor response. Yale University experts also found that the “memory” of the immune system, which was stimulated by such therapy, also protects against relapse of tumor formations in the future and even makes it possible to destroy cancer in the early stages of the onset of the tumor process.

We must use the immune system to find tumors and kill them before they become cancerous. - says Anna Pyle.

The next step in the study of the drug istesting this method of therapy as an independent. Scientists also want to test its effectiveness in combination with other treatment options like radiation or chemotherapy. In addition, researchers also aim to conduct experiments involving human volunteers.