In March 2019, the US released the first immunotherapy drug for breast cancer to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The drug, called Tecentriq, is used to treat triple-negative breast cancer. This type of cancer is resistant to surgery and chemotherapy. It highlights the major benefits of immunotherapy in patients who have limited – if any – treatment options.
For developing countries like South Africa, finding immunotherapy solutions is particularly important given the country’s weak health system and the high cost of cancer drugs. The University of Cape Town has set up the country’s first medical biotechnology-based immunotherapy laboratory. The lab, where we do our research, is strongly committed to the development of novel therapeutic and diagnostic tools for cancer.
Most cancer research has been done on populations of European descent. This means that there’s minimal data on African populations. Our lab aims to fill this knowledge gap by diagnosing and treating patients of African descent. The aim is to identify immunotherapy targets in this underrepresented population.
There are five main classes of immunotherapies. These are:
Antibodies are like puzzle pieces – and diseases are like an incomplete puzzle. Therefore, only antibodies with a specific shape will fit into the “cancer puzzle”. Antibodies with other shapes would fit other puzzles, but not cancer. The ability of antibodies to discriminate between different cells and diseases is the basis for antibody-based immunotherapies.
Our current research involves attaching a light detectable agent to the puzzle piece. This allows us to visualise where a cancer cell is located in a cancer patient’s tissues. We can characterise different types of cancer cells by attaching different coloured light detectable agents to different antibodies. We then generate antibody-drug conjugates that deliver the drug directly to the cancer without harming healthy cells by replacing the light detectable agent on a cancer-fitting antibody with a toxic drug.
Preliminary research from around the world indicates that immunotherapies for cancer are less toxic than conventional therapies like chemotherapy and radiation. They also have the potential for fewer and less severe side effects. This means that immunotherapies could improve patients’ quality of life.
Immunotherapies are effective, safe and relatively easy to manufacture. But they aren’t a standalone wonder drug that can bring about the end of cancer.
A multi-pronged approach that involves a combination of the best treatment options has been heralded as the next wave of therapeutic strategies for cancer and may provide a curative treatment.
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