Development of a new photoimmunotherapy for oral and maxillofacial cancer using protein mimetic

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K23067
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0907:Oral science and related fields
• Research Institution: The Nippon Dental University
• Principal Investigator: Takezawa Haruka (山口晴香) 日本歯科大学, 新潟生命歯学部, 講師 (00756942)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 光免疫療法 / DDS / IR700Dye / Affibody

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Near infrared photoimmunotherapy (NIR-PIT) is a new cancer treatment to induce the selective destruction of EGFR-overexpressing cancer cells by near infrared light irradiation when a monoclonal antibody (mAb) conjugated IR700Dye binds to the receptors. In this study, small protein molecules (Affibody) were used instead of monoclonal antibodies to expand the targets of photoimmunotherapy. As a result, the NIR-PIT using the Affibody-IR700 conjugate caused necrotic cell death in EGFR-overexpressing cancer cells, and the combination therapy using the mAb-IR700 conjugate and the Affibody-IR700 conjugate increased the efficiency of the treatment. These results were presented at the Japanese Association for Oral Biology and the Japanese Society of Oral Oncology, and a related paper was published (Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Nov; 22(22): 12213.) last year.

Free Research Field

分子イメージング・DDS

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

タンパク小分子(Affibody)を用いた光免疫療法を可能にしたことで、従来のモノクローナル抗体を用いた光免疫療法では対象となりにくい種類の癌もターゲットとなることを示すことが出来た。例えば、これまで繰り返し治療を必要としていた大きな腫瘍に関してはタンパク小分子が深部までの到達を可能にし、脳腫瘍についても効率的に血液脳関門を通過することで治療出来る可能性が示唆された。血液脳関門の通過効率についてはさらなる検討が必要であるものの、細胞レベルの実験では有効な結果が得られており、今後動物実験においても効果を確認していく。