Scientists develop a “Trojan horse” therapy to treat several types of cancerous tumors

A new therapy developed by researchers at the Yale Cancer Center at Yale School of Medicine (Yale Cancer Center) is based on masking tumor-fighting antibodies inside the molecules that cancer uses to feed tumor growth.

As explained in a paper published in ACS Central Science, the “Trojan horse” therapy has proven effective against several types of cancer tumors in the laboratory, including brain tumors, which can be difficult to reach with therapy because of the protective blood-brain barrier.

These successes can be attributed to the fact that the therapy-tolerant antibodies have been strategically redesigned from lupus antibodies to take advantage of their ability to target tumors while eliminating their lupus effects. The researchers call them “antinuclear antibodies,” and they secretly target nucleic acid molecules that cancer captures from the environment to create new DNA and promote tumor growth.

Once inside the tumor, the antibodies effectively shed their disguise and launch their anti-nuclear missiles that destroy the cancer cells. Unlike other treatments that combine traditional antibodies and chemotherapy, the antibodies in this therapy do not circulate around and look for tumor cell surface markers such as HER2 or PD-L1 to know where to attack, but instead stealthily penetrate the tumor environment.

A likely positive effect of this highly targeted therapy is a reduction in the toxic side effects that patients face when less precise therapies kill healthy tissue.

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