The official site of the State Public Scientific and Technological Library SB RAS: Altai State University scientists figure out how to make the immune system cope with oncology
“One of the promising types of immune therapy for oncological diseases is the use of monoclonal antibodies, which activate the receptors of the body's immune response to fight cancer cells,” Director of the Center, Doctor of Biological Sciences Andrei Shapoval told RG. “Receptors CTLA-4 and PD-1 are a kind of "brakes" of the immune system, which do not allow the body to fight cancer in full force. Our task is to temporarily turn off these "brakes" in order to strengthen the immune response.
“At the second stage of research, it is necessary to confirm that this peptide really enhances the body's immune response,” emphasizes Andrei Shapoval. “And if it shows its effectiveness, then you can proceed to checking its safety, and then to tests on patients. We very much hope that, based on this peptide, it will be possible to create an immune drug to fight cancer in the future. According to scientists, low-molecular reagents, such as peptides, can cope with this task. The main thing is to find active antibodies that would penetrate the tumor tissue and at the same time do not cause side autoimmune reactions. And the Altai biologists have succeeded. They identified a peptide that interacts precisely with CTLA-4 receptors.”
Employees of the Kizhner Research Center of the National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University and the Center for Innovation in Medicine of the Institute of Biodesign of the University of Arizona are working on the creation of the drug together with the scientists of Altai State University.