Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, have uncovered a new method for attacking pancreatic cancer tumors.
In the growing field of immunotherapy, scientists are discovering how to steer the immune system to attack disease directly. During a clinical trial last month, however, former Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, PhD, and his colleagues discovered a second approach.
By activating the CD40 molecule in advanced pancreatic cancer patients, the team inadvertently changed the behavior of macrophages, a type of white blood cell that often protects the tumor. The macrophages turned on the tumor, eating away at its supporting tissue. “It is something of a Trojan horse approach,” Robert says. “The tumor is still calling in macrophages, but now we’ve used the CD40 receptor to re-educate those macrophages to attack…the tumor.”
On average, patients who received this therapy survived longer and experienced temporary tumor regression. Robert and his team are now focused on strengthening the macrophage response, which they believe will allow access to the tumor for other immune cells previously blocked by the dense surrounding tissue.
> Watch Robert’s video description of the discovery
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