Nanotechnology Now

Our NanoNews Digest Sponsors
Heifer International



Home > Press > The "Cyberwar" Against Cancer Gets a Boost from Intelligent Nanocarriers: TAU researcher advances novel strategy to fight cancer by shoring up the immune system

Abstract:
Two years ago, Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob of Tel Aviv University's School of Physics and Astronomy and Rice University's Center for Theoretical Biological Physics made the startling discovery that cancer, like an enemy hacker in cyberspace, targets the body's communication network to inflict widespread damage on the entire system. Cancer, he found, possessed special traits for cooperative behavior and used intricate communication to distribute tasks, share resources, and make decisions.

The "Cyberwar" Against Cancer Gets a Boost from Intelligent Nanocarriers: TAU researcher advances novel strategy to fight cancer by shoring up the immune system

New York, NY | Posted on October 7th, 2014

In research published in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Prof. Ben-Jacob and researchers from Rice University and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the leading cancer treatment center in the U.S., offer new insight into the lethal interaction between cancer cells and the immune system's communications network. Prof. Ben-Jacob and the study co-authors developed a computer program that models a specific channel of cell-to-cell communication involving exosomes (nanocarriers with crucial cellular "intelligence") that both cancer and immune cells harness to communicate with other cells.

"Recent research has found that cancer is already adept at using a kind of 'cyberwarfare' against the immune system. We studied the interplay between cancer and the immune system to see how we might be able to shift the balance against cancer," said Prof. Ben-Jacob, noting a difference between the innate and the adaptive qualities of the immune system. "In the beginning, cancer is inhibited by the body's innate immunity. But once cancer escapes the immunity, there is a race between the progression of cancer and the ability of the adaptive immune system to recognize and act against it."

Cyberwarfare of the body

"What we are dealing with is cyberwarfare, pure and simple. Cancer uses the immune systems' own communications network to attack not the soldiers but the generals that are coordinating the body's defense," said Prof. Ben-Jacob.

To better understand the role of exosome-mediated cell-to-cell communication in the battle between cancer and the immune system, the researchers created a computer model that captured the exosomal exchange between cancer cells, dendritic cells, and the other cells in the immune system.

The new model is based on earlier research, which showed that dendritic cells, mediators between the body's innate and adaptive immune systems (the former protects against all threats at all times and the latter guards more efficiently against specific, established dangers), employed exosomes to fulfil their task. The researchers discovered that, overtaken by cancer, these nanocarriers, which contain such vital components as signaling proteins, RNA snippets, and microRNAs, can command cells to change their tasks, placing the entire system at risk.

Finding a better balance between the strong and the weak

According to the new research, three possible cancer states can exist: strong, intermediary, and weak. The intermediary state — in which cancer is neither strong nor weak and in which the immune system is on high alert — could be the key to a new therapeutic approach with reduced side effects. Prof. Ben-Jacob believes it is possible to force cancer from a strong to moderate state, and then from a moderate to weak state, by alternating cycles of radiation or chemotherapy with immune-boosting treatments.

"Our first important discovery is that this situation is due to the exosome-based cyberwar between cancer and the immune system," said Prof. Ben-Jacob. "Without exosomes, the two possible states are only strong-weak and weak-strong. With exosomes, an intermediary state opens a new way to treat cancer using very a different approach."

Prof. Ben-Jacob likened the exchange to a tug-of-war between cancer and the immune system. "The challenge is to be familiar with the battlefield so that we can manipulate cancer therapies to change the balance in favor of the immune system. When cancer is detected, it is almost always in the context of a cancer-immunity competition," said Prof. Ben-Jacob. "We showed that the way to stop and reverse tumor progression without causing strong side effects is an individualized approach of mixed treatments — i.e., four days of radiation followed by a few days of immune system boosting, followed again by four days of radiation, and so on. If provided in the right order, the treatments could indeed shift the balance toward the immune system's 'victory' in reducing the cancer to the moderate-strong state."

The study was supported by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, the National Science Foundation, and the Tauber Family Funds.

####

For more information, please click here

Contacts:
George Hunka

212-742-9070

Copyright © American Friends of Tel Aviv University

If you have a comment, please Contact us.

Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Bookmark:
Delicious Digg Newsvine Google Yahoo Reddit Magnoliacom Furl Facebook

Related News Press

Cancer

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers several steps closer to harnessing patient's own T-cells to fight off cancer June 6th, 2025

News and information

INRS and ELI deepen strategic partnership to train the next generation in laser science:PhD students will benefit from international mobility and privileged access to cutting-edge infrastructure June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

Quantum computers simulate fundamental physics: shedding light on the building blocks of nature June 6th, 2025

A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025

Govt.-Legislation/Regulation/Funding/Policy

INRS and ELI deepen strategic partnership to train the next generation in laser science:PhD students will benefit from international mobility and privileged access to cutting-edge infrastructure June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

Institute for Nanoscience hosts annual proposal planning meeting May 16th, 2025

Rice researchers harness gravity to create low-cost device for rapid cell analysis February 28th, 2025

Nanomedicine

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers several steps closer to harnessing patient's own T-cells to fight off cancer June 6th, 2025

Cambridge chemists discover simple way to build bigger molecules – one carbon at a time June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

Self-propelled protein-based nanomotors for enhanced cancer therapy by inducing ferroptosis June 6th, 2025

Discoveries

Researchers unveil a groundbreaking clay-based solution to capture carbon dioxide and combat climate change June 6th, 2025

Cambridge chemists discover simple way to build bigger molecules – one carbon at a time June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025

Announcements

INRS and ELI deepen strategic partnership to train the next generation in laser science:PhD students will benefit from international mobility and privileged access to cutting-edge infrastructure June 6th, 2025

Electrifying results shed light on graphene foam as a potential material for lab grown cartilage June 6th, 2025

Quantum computers simulate fundamental physics: shedding light on the building blocks of nature June 6th, 2025

A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025

Grants/Sponsored Research/Awards/Scholarships/Gifts/Contests/Honors/Records

Researchers uncover strong light-matter interactions in quantum spin liquids: Groundbreaking experiment supported by Rice researcher reveals new insights into a mysterious phase of quantum matter December 13th, 2024

New discovery aims to improve the design of microelectronic devices September 13th, 2024

Physicists unlock the secret of elusive quantum negative entanglement entropy using simple classical hardware August 16th, 2024

Atomic force microscopy in 3D July 5th, 2024

NanoNews-Digest
The latest news from around the world, FREE




  Premium Products
NanoNews-Custom
Only the news you want to read!
 Learn More
NanoStrategies
Full-service, expert consulting
 Learn More











ASP
Nanotechnology Now Featured Books




NNN

The Hunger Project