New therapy reactivates immune response against cancer by blocking protein

Researchers in Catalonia have developed a therapy that reactivates the anti-cancer alarm system in patients with especially aggressive tumors with high levels of the LIF protein. This protein has been found in mainly brain, ovarian, pancreatic and lung tumors and it tends to turn off the body’s immune response to the tumor as well as to promote the proliferation of tumor stem cells.

Vall d'Hebron Oncology Institute (VHIO) researchers showed that they could stop the spread of cancer cells and reactivate the body's anti-tumor immune response by inhibiting LIF. Inhibiting LIF could, as a result, help prevent metastasis and relapses.

The results of the research were published in the 'Nature Communications' journal, with the new therapy now undergoing phase I clinical trials in Catalonia, the US and Canada.