Scientists have proposed a way to literally "switch" the immune system inside a tumor. To do this, the drug is injected directly into the affected tissue, and then activated with light. As a result, immune cells begin not to help cancer, but to fight it. The method was developed by scientists from Saratov National Research State University together with colleagues from Skoltech, MIPT, and ITMO.
The essence of the method is to change the behavior of immune cells directly inside the tumor. We are talking about macrophages - cells that usually protect the body, but in cancer can help the tumor grow, suppressing the immune response.
Microcapsules with an active substance are introduced into the tumor. It triggers a signaling pathway - one of the key mechanisms for enhancing the anti-tumor immune response. At the same time, the active molecule remains inside the capsules and does not act immediately.
Activation occurs with a laser. Near infrared light is used, which passes through tissues but is poorly absorbed by the body. Under its influence, the capsule shell is destroyed and the drug is released directly into the tumor.
After that, macrophages switch to an anti-tumor state and begin to attack cancer cells.
They also attract other cells of the immune system - T-cells. According to Olga Guslyakova, a senior researcher at the biomedical photoacoustics laboratory at SSU, after one procedure, the proportion of such macrophages increased from 1% to 28%.
The Ministry of Education and Science emphasized that the development solves one of the key problems of modern immunotherapy - the delivery of the drug precisely to the tumor without systemic side effects.