TORONTO — A newly discovered type of T-cell receptor (TCR) appears to be able to distinguish between cancerous and healthy cells, potentially leading to a “one-size-fits-all” cancer therapy, researchers say.
A study outlining the breakthrough, which could revolutionize how cancer is treated, was published Monday in the journal Nature Immunology.
T-cell therapy has exploded onto the cancer treatment scene in recent years through the increasingly popular CAR-T treatments. In CAR-T, T-cells are removed from a patient’s blood, modified to recognize cancer cells, and returned to the body to kill the cancer.
Researchers say the newly detected TCR could improve this process because it is able to recognize MR1, a molecule that is universally present in both cancerous and benign cells, but somehow only kill the malignant versions of it.
CAR-T, by contrast, scans for specific parts of proteins that can vary wildly from person to person, meaning each treatment must be specifically targeted to each patient – and scientists have yet to find effective CAR-T treatments for many common cancers, including solid tumours.
“We hope this new TCR may provide us with a different route to target and destroy a wide range of cancers in all individuals,” lead author Andrew Sewell said in a press release.
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