A research grant has been awarded to Dr Sam Au at Imperial College London aiming to use a new and unique laboratory tool which could accelerate the discovery of more effective and more targeted treatment options for Ewing sarcoma patients.
Many Ewing sarcoma tumours have a specific protein on their surface called STEAP1. Because STEAP1 is on these cancer cells, but is rarely found on healthy cells, researchers are trying to use it as a target for new treatments.
One exciting approach is called immunotherapy, which helps the patient's own immune system fight cancer. A special type of immunotherapy uses "bispecific antibodies" where these antibodies are engineered to bind to two targets at the same time. In this case, they will bind to the STEAP1 on the cancer cell, and to another binding site on a T-cell (a type of immune cell that that helps protect the body from infection), activating the immune cell to destroy the Ewing sarcoma cells. This type of immunotherapy acts like a bridge, connecting the patient’s own immune system to the cancer cells to destroy them.
While these treatments show promise, they can also cause serious side effects. This can happen if the treatment accidentally targets healthy cells that might have a small amount of the STEAP1 marker on their cell surface. Research into finding a better way to choose treatments that are good at killing cancer cells but gentle on healthy cells is needed.
The research group has developed a new laboratory tool called a ‘microfluidic avidity platform’. This technology will allow researchers to test how strongly immune cells bind to tumour cells, to test the best and safest bispecific antibodies for treating Ewing sarcoma.
This technology will be used to test several different bispecific antibodies in laboratory models, to see which work best against Ewing sarcoma cells, as well as testing a new type of bispecific antibody that the research group have designed to better target Ewing sarcoma cells.
The researchers aim to demonstrate that the laboratory tool can speed up the discovery of more effective and safer antibody treatments for Ewing sarcoma, that are not only more targeted therapies, but are also easier to tolerate, to improve survival rates and quality of life for patients.
Viqui Vinader, Head of Research at the Bone Cancer Research Trust, shared:
It’s exciting to see Dr Sam Au and the research team at Imperial College London using a new cutting-edge laboratory tool that could transform how we understand and treat Ewing sarcoma. By accelerating discovery, we hope this research will pave the way for more effective and targeted therapies that will make a real difference for Ewing sarcoma patients. This research has only been made possible because of all our wonderful fundraisers, and we are truly thankful for their incredible support.