what if cancer cells could be transformed into cancer killers?

a team of researchers has developed a way to reprogram cancer cells in order to eradicate brain tumours and prevent them from returning.

by dave yasvinski

published jan 06, 2023

last updated jan 07, 2023

2 minute read

join the conversation

2 minute read

join the conversation

new treatment turns cancer cells into cancer killers, study says

with gene engineering, researchers are developing a therapeutic that stimulates the immune system to destroy primary tumours and prevent cancer. getty

a team of researchers has developed a way to eradicate brain tumours and prevent them from returning by reprogramming cancer cells to do the dirty work for them. the research, conducted at brigham and women’s hospital and published in the journal science translational medicine, uses a cell therapy approach to eliminate tumours and induce long-term immunity by training the body’s immune system to better identify cancerous cells and prevent them from returning. early testing on advanced mice models with glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer, have yielded promising results.

“our team has pursued a simple idea: to take cancer cells and transform them into cancer killers and vaccines,” said khalid shah, corresponding author of the study and faculty at harvard medical school and harvard stem cell institute. “using gene engineering, we are repurposing cancer cells to develop a therapeutic that kills tumour cells and stimulates the immune system to both destroy primary tumours and prevent cancer.”

instead of using inactivated tumour cells, the new approach reprograms living tumour cells that possess a unique feature. not unlike the behaviour of homing pigeons, these living cells frequently travel long distances — in this case, across the brain — before returning to the site of fellow tumour cells. shah’s team exploited this vulnerability by using crispr-cas9 (a gene editing tool) to repurpose the cells to release an agent that kills cancerous tumours. the cells were also reprogrammed to express factors that made them easier for the immune system to identify, tag and remember — essentially priming the body’s defences against the long-term return of the invasive cells.

the team then tested these redesigned cells in multiple mice models, including versions that possessed human-derived bone marrow, liver and thymus cells — a process that allowed them to emulate the microenvironment in which the cells may one day operate. they also incorporated a two-layered safety mechanism into these therapeutic tumour cells that allows them to be easily eliminated, if necessary.

the dual-action therapy was found to be safe, applicable and effective in animal models, results the team said provide a roadmap toward therapeutic use. although more testing will be required, researchers chose to use models that incorporated human cells to facilitate the therapeutic’s eventual use in patient settings.

“our goal is to take an innovative but translatable approach so that we can develop a therapeutic, cancer-killing vaccine that ultimately will have a lasting impact in medicine,” said shah, who is also director of the center for stem cell and translational immunotherapy.

shah, who owns equity in and is a member of the board of directors of amasa therapeutics — a company that creates stem cell-driven cancer therapies — said the strategy they employ applies to a wide range of solid tumours and that further investigation will be required to explore its full potential.