Improving Cancer Immunotherapy

Researchers have found ways to make antibodies more effective by boosting the power of white blood cells, thereby improving immunotherapy for cancer. Their findings were reported in the September 1, 2003, issue of Cancer Research.

Drugs that contain antibodies are a standard part of therapy for many cancers, but these antibodies are not always effective. One way that antibodies ideally function is to stick to cancer cells and signal various types of white blood cells to kill the cancer cells. Using mouse cell lines that mimic human conditions, the researchers used different classes of an immune stimulant called CpG ODN (CpG oligodeoxynucleotide) to encourage different types of white blood cells to work with antibodies to kill cancer.

This new information may help doctors make antibodies more effective by providing a way to gear up specific types of white blood cells such as natural killer cells and granulocytes at the same time that patients receive a dose of anticancer antibodies.

"Previous research suggested that different white blood cells can kill cancer cells,” said George Weiner, M.D., principal investigator and professor of internal medicine at the University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA, USA; www.uiowa.edu). "We found that by selecting other agents as stimulants, we can specially direct one type or another of white blood cells to do the killing. It's an extra measure of control for the white blood cells that you specifically want to activate to destroy the cancer cells.”




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