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Interestingly, when Accum™ was administered as a stand-alone therapy to animals with cancer, the molecule recruited CD4 + and CD8 + T cells (that play an important role in immune response) to the tumor.Moreover, Accum™ was compatible with three ICIs (anti-CTLA4, anti-PD-1, or anti-CD47), but its activity was not enhanced when it was combined with all three.This is the first study to show that unconjugated Accum™ harbors an innate anticancer activity.It

G ut microbiome as a biomarker for predic ting early recurrence of HBV-related hepatocellular c arcinoma
Microbes in the gut play a crucial role in controlling the host body's metabolism, inflammation, and immune response.As a result, the ecosystem of microbes in the gut, known as the 'microbiome,' has a major impact on various liver diseases, including liver cancer.Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common liver tumor, accounting for 85%-90% of all liver cancer cases.Infections of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are responsible for the majority of HCC cases globally.The preferred treatment for HCC is complete tumor removal, but the cancer often recurs after surgery, making full recovery difficult.
This study found an association between the composition of gut microbes and the early recurrence of HCC after surgery.The study included 124 patients diagnosed with HBV-associated HCC, 82 with HBV-related hepatitis, and 86 healthy volunteers.The study results indicate that bacteria from Dialister, Veillonella, the Eubacterium coprostanoligenes group, and Lactobacillus genera, as well as the Streptococcus pneumoniae and Bifidobacterium faecale species, are linked to early HCC recurrence.Furthermore, specific chemical compounds produced by gut microbes, including acetic acid, glutamate, and arachidonic acid, were also associated with early recurrence.By extensively analyzing the diversity of the gut microbiome and the chemicals present in the gut and liver, this study further suggests that acetic acid produced by gut microbes might provide energy for liver tumors to grow again, leading to recurrence.
The research suggests that the composition of gut microbes can serve as valuable indicators or "biomarkers" to predict the likelihood of early HCC recurrence.This information could be extremely beneficial for healthcare professionals as it allows them to identify patients at a higher risk of HCC Intr atumor al adminis tr ation of unconjugated Accum™ impair s the grow th of pre-es t ablished solid ly mphoma tumor s With the evolution of cancer research, targeted anticancer therapies like antibody-drug conjugates, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), cellular cancer vaccines, and adoptive cell therapies have been introduced.These targeted therapies, however, face one roadblock: intracellular pathways interfere with their deposition inside a cell and reduce drug activity.To overcome this barrier, the Accum™ technology was developed.Accum™ (which consists of a cholic acid linked to a nuclear localization peptide sequence) helps the conjugated therapeutic molecule to escape entrapment in endosomes (organelles that regulate the transport of molecules within a cell) and thus, accumulate in designated cells.In this study, Bikorimana et al. sought to understand if the unconjugated Accum™ molecule could innately kill cancer cells.They used mouse cell lines, molecular assays, and drug therapy assays to understand the anticancer activity of Accum™.Apart from acting cohesively with common ICIs, unconjugated Accum™ could halt tumor progression when delivered to a tumor.The researchers also found that unconjugated Accum™ exhibited cytotoxic activity and induced cell death in mouse tumor cell lines.This was attributed to the production of reactive oxygen species, induction of immunogenic cell death, and the innate capacity of Accum™ to disrupt endosome membranes at the molecular level.
thus paves the way for developing new anticancer drugs based on the cancer killing properties of unconjugated Accum™ variants.https:// onlin elibr ary.wiley.com/ doi/ full/ 10. 1111/ CAS.15985 This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.© 2023 The Authors.Cancer Science published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japanese Cancer Association.
recurrence.By shedding light on a potential mechanism through which gut microbes contribute to the early recurrence of HCC, this study could open doors for the development of new treatments or interventions aimed at preventing or managing the recurrence of liver cancer.https:// onlin elibr ary.wiley.com/ doi/ full/ 10. 1111/ CAS.15983