Human-Derived Antibody Targets And Destroys Cancer Cells: Study

Experts have created an antibody from the human body's immune system that attacks cancer cells. It was a new antibody discovered, developed and tested among cell lines as well as animal models.

The human body has a security system using specific proteins that protect the surface of the cells from injury and death through the harmful activation of the immune system. The cancer-fighting antibodies can take down some part of cancer cell's defense system and then attack it.

"This is the first completely human-derived antibody developed as an anti-cancer therapy, which is very different from other immunotherapy approaches," said Edward Patz, Jr., a professor at Duke University and senior author of the study.

Hence, Patz and his team studied some of the initial stage tumors present in lung cancer patients that do not develop. Unlike patients who have more deadly tumors, these patients host antibodies against a protein labeled as the complement factor H (CFH). It works as security cells that guard against being attacked by the immune system.

CFH also acts as a block to the deposits of a complement C3b protein in the outer region of the cell. It works as a significant immune response that moves towards damaging of the cell membrane and its death too.

After locating  the antibody for CBH, more mature forms of the antibody was created by the team. It could attack cancer cells while keeping away from healthy cells.

Scientists examined it in many cancer cell lines as well as in tumors that lived in mice. They found that these led to the death of tumor cells but did not show any side-effects. They also stoked an adaptive immune response leading to a systemic attack.

"We believe it might be this additional cellular response that could potentially have the most profound impact on cancer outcomes long-term," Patz said, although he acknowledged that further research is needed to better understand the approach.

"This could represent a whole new approach to treating cancer, and it's exciting because the antibody selectively kills tumor cells, so we don't have significant side effects to achieve tumor control," he added. "We believe we can modulate the immune response and let the body's own immune system take over to either kill the tumor or keep it from growing."

The findings were published in the May 5,2016 issue of the journal Cell Reports.