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Cancer

Tumour-specific ablation of Treg cells induces anticancer response

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery volume 15, pages 676–677 (2016)Cite this article

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NIR-PIT uses a conjugate of an antibody and a photoabsorber to target and kill cells: the conjugate is administered systemically, but its toxic activity can be activated locally through exposure to NIR light. So far, this approach has primarily been investigated with conjugates directed at cancer antigens, and an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeted construct is currently in phase I clinical trials.

Now, the authors use anti-CD25-directed NIR-PIT to target CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ Treg cells, which are known to inhibit anticancer immune responses mediated by natural killer cells (NK) and cytotoxic T cells (CD8+ T cells). In in vitro experiments, the construct, consisting of an anti-CD25-F(ab′)2 fragment coupled to the photoactivatable silica-phtalocyanine dye IRDye 700DX, killed Treg cells in a strictly light-dose-dependent fashion.

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References

  1. Sato, K. et al. Spatially selective depletion of tumor-associated regulatory T cells with near-infrared photoimmunotherapy. Sci. Transl Med. 8, 352ra110 (2016)

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Authors
  1. Alexandra Flemming
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Flemming, A. Tumour-specific ablation of Treg cells induces anticancer response. Nat Rev Drug Discov 15, 676–677 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd.2016.198

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