Claimed to be the most deadly reproductive cancer for women, ovarian cancer is a cancerous growth cropping up from diverse portions of the ovary. It is said to be often accounted that less than one-third of ovarian cancers seemingly overexpress the HER-2 protein, which is believed to be the molecular target of trastuzumab (Herceptin).
Nevertheless, with more receptive identifying techniques, the researchers from the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine discovered that almost all ovarian cancers express HER-2. The new discoveries propose that therapy targeting HER-2 could play a role in ovarian cancer treatment in the future. Moreover, it may also enhance the result for women with ovarian cancer the way it apparently has for women with HER-2 expressing breast cancer.
The team presumably utilized three diverse assays to examine for HER-2 expression in ovarian cancer cell lines and patient tumor samples.
“What we found is that ovarian cancers ubiquitously express HER-2, and generally at higher levels than normal ovary tissue, commented, Daniel J. Powell, Jr., PhD, a research assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Even though the outcomes of earlier clinical trials assessing trastuzumab in women with advanced ovarian cancer seems to have been dreary, Powell believes that reactions could be enhanced by utilizing genetically engineered immune cells to convey a toxic hit to tumor cells expressing HER-2. The altered T cells supposedly express an engineered protein, known as chimeric immune receptor that appears to merge a piece of an anti-HER-2 antibody with a portion of a killer T-cell receptor to fuel cell-killing activity.
Powell explained, “The chimeric immune receptor is not simply binding the HER-2 protein; it also uses the power of killer T cells coming in behind to further mediate the anti-tumor response. Also, the chimeric immune receptor that we are using is able to distinguish recognition of ovarian cancer from normal targets, despite the fact that the normal cells do express HER-2.”
The new outcomes apparently support examining of anti-HER-2 T-cell therapy in ovarian cancer. But Powell mentions that more research is required to comprehend how to transport the cells carefully.
The research was presented at the American Association of Cancer Research meeting.