Making killer cells suitable in the short term
‘The research is aimed at making killer cells suitable for use in the clinic in the short term. Among other things, in patients with metastatic breast cancer.’, according to the hospital.
Killercellen
Killer cells are white blood cells of the natural immune system that ensure that disease-causing cells in the body are destroyed and excreted. Those disease-causing cells can also be cancer cells. A killer cell that recognizes a cancer cell becomes active and releases toxic substances that cause the cancer cell to die.
breast cancer
For several years now, Maastricht UMC+ has been researching the possible beneficial effects of immunotherapy with killer cells in breast cancer. It is shown in cell culture systems in the laboratory and in animal models that the killer cells can have an anti-cancer effect. The Maastricht research also develops various strategies to make the killer cells resistant to the inhibitory influence of the tumor microenvironment. This means that the killer cell itself is not destroyed before it has had an impact on the cancer cells. This is important because this tumor environment is a major bottleneck in many types of anticancer therapies.
‘Maybe testing killer cells on patients as early as the end of 2022’
Maastricht UMC+ and the start-up CiMaas will continue to develop together with the University of Utrecht, which has a lot of experience with models for breast cancer research. The KWF research fund has made the subsidy available. The substantial subsidy will enable further research into the possibilities of killer cells in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. The next phase of the research is to develop killer cells for use outside the lab, in the clinic in patients with breast cancer. According to research leader Prof. Gerard Bos, this development can progress quickly: ‘We are already at the point where we expect to be able to test killer cells from the end of 2022 in patients with Multiple Myeloma and/or acute leukemia.’
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