Yale Cancer Center Study Highlights Novel Immunotherapy Approach to Fight Melanoma

Mice with melanoma tumors achieved almost complete tumor suppression upon intravenous injection of antibody/RNA complexes.

A tumor-targeting and cell-penetrating antibody can stimulate an immune response to help treat melanoma, Yale researchers reported at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) virtual annual meeting.

“Most approaches rely on direct injection into tumors of ribonucleic acids (RNAs) or other molecules to boost the immune response, but this is not practical in the clinic, especially for patients with advanced cancer,” says Peter M. Glazer, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale, Chief of Radiation Oncology at Smilow Cancer Hospital, and senior author of the study, in a news release. “In this study, we can deliver immune stimulatory RNA to tumors in vivo following systemic administration.”

In this study, using mice with melanoma tumors, members of the Glazer lab at Yale achieved almost complete tumor suppression upon intravenous injection of antibody/RNA complexes.

“These results are very encouraging,” says Glazer. “They highlight a novel approach for the systemic delivery of immunostimulatory RNAs in a targeted manner that may one day offer therapeutic advantages for difficult to treat cancers like melanoma, over current approaches.”