A research team from the University of California, Los Angeles has developed a novel chimeric antigen receptor natural killer T cell (CAR-NKT) immunotherapy. Even if cancer cells have metastasized to other organs, the therapy can accurately identify and destroy pancreatic cancer cells. The relevant paper was published in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States. Previously, although the chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy had made a breakthrough in the treatment of some blood cancers, it was difficult to deal with solid tumors such as pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic tumors are surrounded by dense connective tissue and inhibitory immune cells, forming a natural barrier that hinders the entry of therapeutic cells. What's even more tricky is that these types of tumors are good at "disguising" and constantly change surface molecular markers to evade immune recognition. To overcome these obstacles, the research team utilized natural killer T cells. By equipping them with chimeric antigen receptors targeting the cell protein "mesothelin" of pancreatic cancer, these cells can simultaneously initiate multiple attack mechanisms and carry out all-round encirclement and suppression of tumors. In rigorous animal models targeting pancreatic tumors in situ and liver metastases (the most common and lethal types of metastasis), CAR-NKT cells exhibit strong tumor clearance capabilities. Even in highly inflammatory tumor microenvironments, therapeutic cells maintain their anti-cancer activity and are less prone to failure. The team stated that in addition to multi-channel collaborative anti-cancer, the platform also breaks through the limitations of current cell therapies in terms of time, process, and cost. Existing therapies require collecting patients' own cells, sending them to specialized facilities for several weeks of modification, and then reintroducing them back into the body. Natural killer T cells are naturally compatible with the human immune system and do not cause serious rejection reactions, so donated blood stem cells can be used for large-scale production. In addition, mesothelin targeted by this therapy is also highly expressed in breast cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer, so the same cell preparation is expected to be used to treat multiple cancers. The team has preliminarily verified its efficacy in breast cancer and ovarian cancer models in preclinical studies. (New Society)