Russian scientists commented on the opening of Nobel laureates 2018 in medicine and physiology. Innovative research in cancer treatment have created a new area of expertise in Oncology and became the trigger for the creation of new drugs. However, to effectively apply it in clinical practice will be possible only by going to personalized immunologie, experts say.
What is it and what is the novelty of the methodology
Opening the treatment of cancer with difficult to grasp for the non-specialist formulation by inhibiting a negative immune regulation are discussed in the framework of a University project NobelTаlks @SechenovUniversity.
In short, the current Nobel laureates have studied the ability of the immune system to destroy tumor cells, taking the chain certain immune cells. In particular, James Allison in 1995, he discovered the protein CTLA-4, which is a sort of brake on immune system cells (T-lymphocytes). In norm it is necessary to ensure that the lymphocytes did not attack the body’s own cells. In the next year, led by Allison, the group learned how to turn off this special protein antibodies. As a result of this treatment, our immune system becomes more active to fight tumor cells.
A few years earlier, Tasuku Honjo was interested in another protein, PD-1. It also affects the readiness of the immune system to fight the tumor, and was opened by the Honjo group on the surface of T-lymphocytes. The value of this protein is that cancer cells are able to block it, which instantly makes them invisible to the immune system. Thanks to the discovery was developed special drugs that disrupt the ability of tumor cells to block PD-1. It returns to the body the ability to see and kill out-of-control tumor cells.
Using this approach, two groups of scientists have managed to overcome some very common forms of cancer in mice. The new method has already actively implemented and in relation to tumors, people, promising a major breakthrough in cancer therapy.
Does not fit all
Immunohistology a very promising direction, changing the paradigm of treatment of many diseases and allowing for the effect of non-comparable used today in routine practice methods. An important property immunologicheskikh drugs is the universality of their actions one molecule suitable to deal with different types of cancer.Thus, among the already registered is the drug for six different indications, including such hard-to-treat diseases like non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma and kidney cancer.
In practice, however, immunologicheskie preparations help in fighting the tumor is not all: in some patients they have no effect, some, fortunately, in a very small percentage of cases, cause explosive growth of the tumor, said the Vice-rector for research work sechenovskiy University, head of the Center for personalized Oncology OncoTarget sechenovskiy University Marina Sekachev.
We are beginning to study the efficacy and safety of these drugs, told Sekachev. Sechenovskiy the University is also actively engaged in the study of immunology. The University is working on personalized selection immunologicheskikh drugs, based on the search of predictors of response and efficiency. Our challenge is to find markers that are distinctive characteristics of the tumor and the body, which will allow to predict the answer. Only by creating a similar strategy personalized immunologie, we will be able with maximum efficiency to apply the opening of the Nobel laureates in clinical practice.
Another question to be answered by scientists is: how to optimally combine immunology with the classical methods of cancer treatment, e.g. radiation therapy. To date, accumulated a lot of data on this issue, but they are all fragmented. To process this data the University has created a group of Computer Oncology, which with the help of methods of mathematical simulation of working to create predictive models of interaction immunologicheskikh processes with the processes occurring during radiation therapy.
When immunologia will be available in Russia?
To define category of patients for which effective specific immunologicheskie drugs it is important for the budget, which will Finance therapy (today one bottle immunologicheskaja drug for cancer costs thousands of dollars, and the treatment draws on the tens of thousands). For patients themselves: the artificial disinhibition immunity is always risky to start an autoimmune disease. It is clear that a completely harmless drug without side effects does not exist. But if new drugs will be ineffective, that may discredit the method.
According to working with the who international expert, to identify well-defined groups of patients who have shown this type of therapy, and specification of the characteristics of the tumor it is necessary to create a testing system for patients and to open in Russia specialized laboratories.The purpose of this therapy is not tested patients is not justified, and even with significant expenditures, to achieve the desired effect will not succeed.
Irina Reznik