Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a novel nano-vaccine for melanoma, the most aggressive type of skin cancer.
So far the vaccine has been proven effective in mice in preventing the development of melanoma and in treating primary tumors and metastases that result from the disease, the researchers said in a study, revealed in the August 5 issue of Nature Nanotechnology.
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The vaccine still hasn't been tested on human beings, only on human tissue.
"Our research opens the door to a completely new approach – the vaccine approach – for effective treatment of melanoma, even in the most advanced stages of the disease," said Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro, chair of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and head of the Laboratory for Cancer Research and Nanomedicine at TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine.
Satchi-Fainaro and University of Lisbon Prof. Helena Florindo, who was on sabbatical at the Satchi-Fainaro lab, led the research conducted by Anna Scomparin of Satchi-Fainaro's lab and postdoctoral fellow Dr. João Conniot.
The researchers used tiny particles, about 170 nanometers in size, made up of biodegradable polymers. Within each particle, they "packed" two peptides – short chains of amino acids, which are found in melanoma cells. They then injected the nanoparticles (or "nano-vaccines") into mice that had melanoma.
"The nanoparticles acted just like known vaccines for viral-borne diseases," Satchi-Fainaro said. "They stimulated the immune system of the mice, and the immune cells learned to identify and attack cells containing the two peptides – that is, the melanoma cells. This meant that, from now on, the immune system of the immunized mice will attack melanoma cells if and when they appear in the body."
The researchers demonstrated the effectiveness of the vaccine under three different conditions: as a preventive measure in healthy mice; to treat a primary tumor in mice in conjunction with immunotherapy, and to treat tissues taken from patients with melanoma brain metastases.
"The war against cancer in general, and melanoma in particular, has advanced over the years through a variety of treatment modalities, such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy; but the vaccine approach, which has proven so effective against various viral diseases, has not materialized yet against cancer," said Satchi-Fainaro.
"In our study, we have shown that it is possible to produce an effective nano-vaccine against melanoma and to sensitize the immune system to immunotherapies."
The researchers believe that their "nano-vaccine" approach could be expanded beyond melanoma.
"We believe that our platform may also be suitable for other types of cancer and that our work is a solid foundation for the development of other cancer nano-vaccines," Satchi-Fainero said.
