Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology "Confirmed Over 50% Reduction Effect on Cancer Cells in Laboratory"
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The research team led by Professor Jeon Chang-deok of the Department of Life Sciences at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) announced on the 1st that they have developed a next-generation anticancer immunocellular therapeutic agent that activates dendritic cells, star-shaped immune cells, to treat diseases such as cancer.
Dendritic cells are cells in the mammalian immune system that convey information about external invaders to T cells, enhancing the T cells' attacking power. The mobility of dendritic cells and their binding with immune T cells (immune synapse formation) are regulated by the actin cytoskeleton.
The research team has been studying ‘Transgelin-2,’ a protein that regulates the function of actin, for several years and has identified that it is involved not only in the activation of various immune cells but also in cell mobility. In this process, they confirmed that dendritic cells deficient in the actin-regulating protein Transgelin-2 fail to migrate to secondary lymphoid organs and cannot normally induce immune cell activation and growth, thus failing to trigger an immune response. This revealed that the expression of Transgelin-2 is an indispensable factor for maintaining the normal function of dendritic cells.
Based on these research results, the team produced a recombinant Transgelin-2 protein that can be introduced into cells and stably maintained intracellularly. They also succeeded in restoring the function of abnormal dendritic cells by treating Transgelin-2-deficient dendritic cells with this protein to re-express Transgelin-2.
The research team also obtained experimental results showing that when normal dendritic cells were pre-injected into experimental mice to create an immune-activated environment and then tumors were induced, the tumor size was reduced by more than 50% compared to the control group, demonstrating effective suppression of tumor formation.
Professor Jeon Chang-deok stated, “This is the first case showing the effect of enhancing anticancer activity through intracellular substances that perform major functions within dendritic cells in therapeutic research using dendritic cells,” and added, “We plan to establish a next-generation dendritic cell-based vaccine anticancer strategy by developing a combined therapy with cell vesicles transporting immune checkpoint inhibitor proteins, which is currently underway.”
The results of this study were published online on the 17th of last month in the international cancer-related academic journal ‘Journal of Hematology & Oncology.’
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