Spanish researchers develop "smart antibodies" against ovarian cancer.

The CRIS Cancer Foundation is currently leading two projects for the treatment of ovarian cancer based on "smart antibodies," i.e., antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) that attack only tumor cells, preserving the patient's healthy tissue and blocking tumor growth.

Ovarian cancer is one of the greatest challenges in oncology, as most cases are diagnosed late , when the disease has already spread throughout the body and therapeutic options are more limited. In this regard, ADC therapies offer hope, combining antibodies, which are biological molecules capable of recognizing tumor proteins, with the efficacy of highly potent drugs.

Treatment even in metastatic cells

One of the CRIS projects has allowed researchers to identify a protein that is present primarily in ovarian cancer cells , and barely in healthy cells. This discovery has allowed experts to develop an ADC therapy capable of effectively recognizing and destroying tumor cells, while sparing healthy cells.

Trials of this therapy in cellular models, using human ovarian cancer cells , and animals have shown that tumors grow much less, even in metastasis cells obtained from real patients and that they are much more aggressive.

This new ADC is shown to be safe and potent at low doses , which would facilitate its development as a new therapy, and could even be more effective than other treatments currently available.

"The fact that the treatment can work even in metastatic cells is excellent news, because it is precisely disseminated disease that poses the greatest challenge in ovarian cancer," emphasized Dr. Atanasio Pandiella, co-director of the CRIS Ovarian Cancer Project.

Stopping the division of tumor cells

The other line of research the researchers are working on is a second protein, also present in ovarian cancer. Using an antibody already known and approved for other types of tumors, they have developed a new treatment, also in the form of an ADC, that blocks the ability of tumor cells to divide and triggers their death.

This therapy has shown great efficacy in slowing tumor growth in experimental models , inducing cell death in less than 24 hours. This ADC interferes with the cell multiplication process, which is what tumor cells use to grow uncontrollably.

Both projects have shown very promising results in the laboratory and the research team is working on developing its own antibody to move towards future clinical trials, with the aim of ensuring that the benefits achieved reach the hospital and patients as soon as possible.

Furthermore, researchers are exploring the possibility of using these antibodies as a prognostic tool, so that blood samples, i.e., liquid biopsies, can determine whether a patient is responding to therapies.

If this strategy is confirmed, it would not only allow for more effective cancer treatment , but also for monitoring patients' response in a simple and less invasive way, by studying this protein with a simple blood test.

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