Novel Immunotherapy Treats Cancer in Mice

Cancer immunotherapy typically targets tumor-specific antigens; however, such antigens can elicit a tepid immune attack and are not identified readily. In the absence of good tumor-specific antigenic targets, investigators from Mayo Clinic took a different approach.

The researchers made DNA copies of all the messenger RNA (mRNA) in normal prostate tissue — that is, they created copies of all the activated genes. Then, they inserted these genes into viral vectors and infused these vectors into mice with subcutaneous prostate tumors from prostate cancer cell lines. A T-cell response followed, and the tumors resolved. The T-cell response against the cancer cells did not injure normal prostate tissue. In contrast, the same viral vectors had no e…