Immune Reprogramming Inhibits Tumor Progression in Melanoma Model
Source: Inside Precision Medicine, November 2022
A series of experimental studies by UK researchers has shown that miniature spherical particles called protocells loaded with a cargo that inhibits microRNA-223 (miR223) can alter interactions between immune cells and cancer cells and ultimately reduce tumor burden.
“Protocells are artificial, chemically designed, spherical particles/vesicles that are formed by the aggregation of non-living components with the aim of mimicking the structure and different properties of biological cells, and therefore helping to better understand the processes occurring in the living cells of an organism,” explained the study’s first author Paco López-Cuevas, a research associate in the School of Biochemistry at the University of Bristol, UK.
López-Cuevas and team loaded the synthetic “proteinosomes” with anti-miR223 molecules, hypothesizing that targeting miR223 would encourage immune cells to attack and destroy cancer cells.