Researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) propose a new treatment for brain metastases that respond poorly, or not at all, to immunotherapy, and provide a biomarker to predict in which cases it should be used.
Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas Oct 2 2024 Research ers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre propose a new treatment for brain metastases that respond poorly, or not at all, to immunotherapy, and provide a biomarker to predict in which cases it should be used.
"Brain metastasis poses a serious clinical problem," explains Manuel Valiente, head of the CNIO Brain Metastasis Group and director of the study whose results are now being published. "Patients with advanced brain metastases, that is, those who can already perceive symptoms of metastases, don't respond well to immunotherapy. But even patients who respond well to immunotherapy increasingly relapse, often because of new metastases in the brain.
We have discovered," explains Neibla Priego, first author of the paper, "that certain brain cells called astrocytes act as immunomodulators, that is, they interact with the immune system in the brain, and in cases of brain metastasis they misuse this function because they are being influenced by the tumour."
Having demonstrated that this molecule, TIMP1, acts on immune system cells and renders them less effective, the CNIO team proposes to use it as a biomarker to detect brain metastases affected by this immunosuppressive mechanism. "There is a drug called silibinin, which has already been employed on a compassionate use basis, which inhibits the production of the TIMP1 molecule," says Valiente. "A clinical trial is already underway to test its therapeutic efficacy in brain metastasis. We hope to have the results in 2025."
Immunotherapy Metastasis Antibodies Bacteria Biomarker Blood Brain Metastases Cancer Cancer Immunotherapy Clinical Trial Drugs Immune System Molecule Protein Research
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