This week, news about cancer has penetrated the dense web of up-to-date political, economic and military information: An international consortium led by the Barcelona Biomedical Research Institute (IRB) has just completed preclinical studies of this place. The MCLA-158 antibody is at the beginning of the race to find the first drug to target cancer stem cells from solid tumors.

Cancer stem cells? Until recently, we believed that cancer was essentially a homogeneous mass of rapidly proliferating cells. Therefore, emerging therapies focused on destroying these “highly proliferating” cells. In recent years we have learned that there is a tremendous diversity in cancer cells. Both in reproduction and differentiation.

Moreover, we have discovered cancer stem cells in recent years. A small subset of cells “capable of regenerating and producing the diversity of proliferating and differentiated cells that make up the bulk of the tumor,” as in normal stem cells. The problem is that they are unaffected by the therapies we use. We were attacking the soldiers, metaphorically speaking, but the factory was still operating.

Chaoyue Su et al (2021)

How can I distinguish a normal stem cell from a cancerous one? Each time we discovered this problem, researchers focused on finding mechanisms that allowed us to attack some cells without compromising the rest. In this case, MCLA-158 is a bispecific antibody that recognizes two characteristic proteins of cancer stem cells (EGFR and LGR5). The idea of ​​the team led by Eduard Batlle is precisely for this reason that “it should not interfere with the functioning of the body’s healthy stem cells, which are essential for the proper functioning of tissues”.

war, 2022

Still far from the clinic. This is a very important discovery and there are indications that the data are strong, but we need to calm our excitement. These are preclinical data. We have known for a long time that only 5% of all drugs that have proven efficacy in the preclinical stages reach the market. As I said, this is not an argument against the antibody; rather an argument against overly sensational narratives.

welcome organoids. However, there’s one thing this study is interesting about beyond what’s going to happen in the future: the use of organoids. The researchers constructed “a biobank containing organoids from colon cancer patients, organoids from colon cancer metastases in the liver, and organoids from normal, noncancerous tissue.”

“Organoids”, as Benjamin Freedman, professor of medicine and kidney organoids expert at the University of Washington, explained to us a few years ago, are “collections of cells on a support, such as a plate that resembles a tissue or organ of the body.” . This means that by incorporating them into the earliest stages of drug production, it helps “identify those that are effective for most patients, and even tumors that carry a particular mutation.” It allows us to go faster.

At least that’s what we believed. We can now confirm this with the good results of this study and the development of a clear methodology for the use of organoids. In this way, the work of Batlle and his team opens the door to better, faster and more efficient cancer science. Even if the antibody did not eventually reach hospitals, its contribution would be enormous.

Image | RAEng