Mysterious Anti-cancer Nanoparticles
Mosaic virus equips the immune system to fight cancer
Researchers from Case Western Reserve University and Dartmouth University (USA) have discovered an amazing property of the shell of a mosaic virus that affects legumes, in particular, a plant such as cow peas (Vīgna unguiculata), Infox reports.
As it turned out, if you create nanoparticles with these shells and send them to a cancerous tumor, then the body's own immunity becomes activated and begins to destroy not only the tumor itself, but even metastases.
The authors report their research in the latest issue of the prestigious scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology (Lizotte et al., In situ vaccination with cowpea mosaic virus nanoparticles suppresses metastatic cancer).
Scientists have already tested the effect of these nanoparticles on mice with melanoma. The experiment was conducted on five animals. After the introduction of nanoparticles, the cancer disappeared in four of them, and the development of the disease stopped in one of them.
The idea of creating vaccines against oncological diseases in situ (i.e., vaccines that act directly on the tumor itself) is not new. A lot of research is being done in this area. However, all of them are at the experimental stage and have not yet been introduced into clinical practice.
"The nanoparticles we have created based on the shells of the virus that infects legumes switch the work of the immune system and make it recognize a cancerous tumor and fight against it. They are also capable of leading to the formation of immune memory," says Associate Professor Nicole Steinmetz.
a) method of obtaining viral capsids,
b) the mechanism and scheme of the immune system in their application
b) the mechanism and scheme of the immune system in their application
(figure from an article in Nature Nanotechnology – VM).
"These nanoparticles have huge potential. They are easy to make, they do not carry antigens or immunostimulating agents. And, of course, the pathogenic viral particles themselves have been removed from them," says Professor Steven Fiering.
As the authors emphasize, with therapy with such nanoparticles, there is a minimum of side effects.
"They are non-toxic, they also do not interact with the human genome in any way, do not contain RNA, do not contain lipopolysaccharides that can work as adjuvants (substances to enhance the immune response, ed.). It is not an immune activator. The action of such nanoparticles stimulates a specific immune response," says Steinmetz.
However, the biggest mystery, scientists say, remains the mechanism of operation of these nanoparticles. The authors are going to find out in detail how viral shells act on immunity in the near future.
In the press release of the Case Western Reserve University Simple shell of plant virus sparks immune response against cancer, the authors also reported that the same nanoparticles (also in mouse models) caused the destruction of ovarian, breast and colon tumors - VM.
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24.12.2015