Cancer treatment not only damages tumour cells but also changes them. And some of these changes could be used to target treatment more effectively. Scientists from the team of Marek Mráz at CEITEC Masaryk University and University Hospital Brno, which is part of the NICR, have found that during treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, a receptor becomes more abundant on the surface of cancer cells, making it possible to target them with an antibody.
The researchers focused on what happens to leukaemia cells during treatment with targeted drugs commonly used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). They found that once treatment begins, CXCR4 levels on the surface of cancer cells increase significantly. The way cancer cells respond to treatment could therefore also become a weakness.
In laboratory experiments, the researchers combined the drugs already being used with an antibody targeting the CXCR4 receptor. The combination killed leukaemia cells significantly more effectively than the drugs alone. The researchers went on to verify the results in a mouse model using leukaemia cells from patients.
The research is still at the preclinical stage, so this is not a new treatment that can yet be offered to patients. However, it suggests a possible way to identify more effective combinations of cancer drugs – by using the changes triggered in cancer cells by the treatment itself to target them with additional treatment. The results were published in the scientific journal HemaSphere.
Read more on the CEITEC Masaryk University website.
