Treatment to fight liver cancer in mice

Swiss researchers have developed a new antibody treatment that helps the immune system fight liver cancer in mice, even when other treatments have failed.

Many tumours create fat-rich environments that weaken the immune cells —especially those meant to destroy cancer, and researchers at Ludwig for Cancer Research Lausanne, looked at how they block the body’s natural defences.

The researchers designed a new antibody, PLT012, which recognises and blocks a molecule called CD36 that helps immune cells absorb fat - by reducing fat uptake, the antibody helped restore the cells’ ability to fight the tumour.

In mice with cancer which had spread to the liver, the antibody reduced fat levels in harmful immune cells and allowed other immune cells to attack the cancer.

As a result, tumours shrank and the immune system became active again.

The researchers also tested PLT012 in monkeys and found no serious side effects, suggesting it could be safe for future use in humans.

Ping-Chih Ho, senior author of the study published in Cancer Discovery, said: "The implications of this study extend beyond liver cancer."

"It not only ushers a potentially new class of immunotherapeutics to the clinic but also deepens our understanding of the metabolic barriers to immune clearance generally employed by cancers."