 | Cancer Solutions science + engineering = conquering cancer together |
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 | IntereSTING Cancer Vaccine Developments The Belcher and Hammond Labs recently engineered a therapeutic cancer vaccine that could potentially make immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapies effective for more patients. In preclinical studies of mouse melanoma and colon cancer models, this vaccine eliminated 70%-100% of solid tumors and prevented recurrence with minimal side effects. Notably, the vaccine also showed promise in overcoming an immunodeficiency affecting 20% of the human population.
The new vaccine, described in Advanced Healthcare Materials, activates an immunostimulatory signaling called the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway. It was engineered by combining an ICB nanobody, a smaller form of antibody, with part of the STING protein. The resulting protein complex is capable of effectively blocking immune checkpoint proteins as well as activating STING signaling, even in mice lacking STING proteins. Researchers hope the vaccine will make ICB therapies more effective and more broadly, viable for patients with loss-of-function STING mutations.
This study was supported in part by the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program and the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine. |
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|  | A Boost for CAR T Cell Therapy Irvine Lab researchers found that their CAR T vaccine strategy not only supercharges the engineered immune cells to overcome the suppressive environment of solid tumors, but also teaches naturally occurring immune cells to attack cancer cells beyond those the CAR T cells are designed to target. While the Cell study focuses on glioblastoma and melanoma in mice, the vaccine could be effective for other solid tumors. Elicio Therapeutics is developing this strategy for testing in patients. |
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 | Brain Cancer Breakthrough At a recent ASCO meeting, clinical researchers announced positive results from Phase 3 trials of a new therapy—which leverages research by Matthew Vander Heiden—for low-grade IDH-mutant glioma, a type of brain cancer. The first therapeutic breakthrough in this disease in more than 20 years, early use of the drug significantly reduced the risk of disease progression or death. |
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| If you missed the 2023 Koch Institute Annual Symposium on Cancer Vaccines, videos of our sessions and panel discussion are now available. |
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 | Hammond Honored by MIT Faculty Congratulations to KI member Paula Hammond, for winning the 2023-4 Killian Award! Hammond, an Institute Professor and head of MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, is being recognized for her work designing novel polymers and nanomaterials for applications in cancer, medicine and energy, as well as for her service to both MIT and the national scientific community. |
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Angela Koehler has been named faculty director of the MIT Deshpande Center, an interdepartmental center that helps students and faculty bring their new technologies from the lab to the marketplace. |
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Sangeeta Bhatia is one of Endpoints News’ 20 women shaping biopharma in 2023, in honor of her serial entrepreneurship and efforts to help women launch their own startups through the MIT Future Founders Initiative. |
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| Congratulations to the winners of the 2023 Marble Center Cancer Nanomedicine Poster Symposium: Jacob Witten (Anderson Lab), Cathy Wang (Bhatia Lab), Dr. Rajith Manan (Anderson Lab), Dr. Patrick Han (Galloway Lab), and Anna Romanov (Bathe and Irvine Labs). |
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In Nature Nanotechnology, Robert Langer surveys the past, present, and future of the mRNA revolution and its impacts on treating cancer and infectious or genetic diseases. |
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| “I’ve seen this situations where we have a student who really can walk through walls and is so passionate about taking something, but if we spent another year academically and de-risked the technology further, honestly, that trajectory would be different. Do you need to start now? Or can you wait?” |
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A Molecular Cell study from the Young Lab shows that, along with DNA and protein, many transcription factors can also bind RNA. This revision to our understanding of transcription factors may provide new targets for RNA-based therapeutics. |
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 | A profile of Omer Yilmaz features the recently tenured professor's ongoing studies of stemness, diet and fasting. Yilmaz, who is a member of the MIT Stem Cell Initiative, investigates the effects of different diets and environmental conditions on intestinal stem cells, and how those factors can increase the risk of cancer and other conditions. |
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