Chinese scientists develop 'molecular bridge' to boost cancer treatment

BEIJING -- Chinese scientists have improved upon an existing powerful leukemia treatment, which now works even when cancer cells try to hide from it.

Their innovative approach, detailed in the latest issue of the journal Cell, acts like a molecular bridge, strengthening the connection between the body's cancer-fighting cells and the leukemia cells they are meant to destroy.

Their treatment modifies what is traditionally known as CAR T cell therapy. Such therapy involves taking a patient's T cells, changing them in a lab so they can find and attack cancer cells, and then putting them back into the patient's body.

In many patients, however, the cancer comes back after the therapy. This happens because cancer cells can hide. They remove the marker on their surface that the CAR T cells are looking for. Once hidden, CAR T cells cannot find them.

In the past, fixing this meant going back to the lab to genetically redesign the T cells all over again. This process is expensive, takes a long time, and is technically very difficult.

Now, a research team from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a new helper molecule called FACE.

The idea came from studying patient samples. The researchers found that both leukemia cells and the immune cells used in CAR T therapy have large amounts of the same protein on their surface -- a protein called CD71. So they created FACE from ferritin, a natural protein that binds to CD71. During the preparation process, FACE attaches to CAR T cells. Later, when those cells are given to the patient, FACE also grabs onto nearby leukemia cells, locking the two together.

"FACE serves as a tiny bridge or a piece of strong glue. Even when leukemia cells try to hide, FACE helps the CAR T cells hold on and do their job," said Wei Wei, one of the lead researchers from the IPE.

The research results have been striking. In laboratory studies using mouse leukemia subjects, the new approach worked even when the original cancer target had decreased markedly. Standard CAR T cell therapy failed under these conditions, but the FACE-CAR T cells were still able to find and kill the leukemia cells, leading to a 100-percent survival rate.

"One of the most promising aspects of this new method is its simplicity," said Wei, explaining that FACE is made from a protein naturally found in the body and simple materials that are already approved for medical use.

According to Wei, these findings have been validated in multiple clinically relevant mouse leukemia subjects, and in samples derived from human patients.

"This molecular bridge offers new hope for patients with hard-to-treat leukemia that no longer responds to existing therapies. It's a practical approach that could make a life-saving therapy more effective without adding complexity or cost," Wei added.