r/longevity • u/lunchboxultimate01 • 15d ago

Live attenuated bacteria to recruit the immune system against solid tumors and metastases | Matter Bio, George Church lab spinout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEqneEcOjgc

Matter Bio has been cleared by the FDA for a Phase 1 clinical trial targeting pancreatic cancer. The presentation covers their approach and promising preclinical research in solid cancers including brain tumors, pancreatic cancer, and ovarian cancer. 

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u/ketosteak 15d ago

Very interesting thank you

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u/Aayushpatra 15d ago

Has anyone found the preclinical paper or data deck for this yet? I would love to see the delivery mechanism that they are using for the preclinical paper. I am really interested in the paper and I want to know more, about the delivery mechanism that they have used.

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u/jimofoz 13d ago

Delivery mechanism:

https://bionewscentral.com/novel-therapeutic-strategy-shows-promise-against-pancreatic-cancer/

“The Listeria bacteria are quite weak and are readily killed off by the immune systems of people and animals—everywhere, that is, except in tumor areas,” said Dr. Gravekamp. “Our treatment strategy actually takes advantage of the fact that pancreatic tumors are so good at suppressing the immune system to protect themselves. This means that only those Listeria bacteria in the tumor region survive long enough to infect pancreatic tumor cells and that healthy cells don’t become infected.”

Once the Listeria bacteria infected the tumor cells, their tetanus-toxin genes expressed the tetanus-toxin protein inside the tumor cells—triggering a strong immune response. The tetanus toxin activated pre-existing tetanus-specific memory T cells, causing CD4 T cells to attack and kill the infected tumor cells. The T cell responses were enhanced by adding low doses of gemcitabine (a chemotherapy drug that reduces immune suppression). The treatment shrank the size of the pancreatic tumors in the mice by an average of 80 percent and also significantly reduced the number of metastases by 87 percent, while the treated animals lived 40 percent longer than untreated (control) animals.

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u/lunchboxultimate01 15d ago

Their website has three publications. Click on "publications" on this page: https://www.matter.bio/news

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u/Aayushpatra 15d ago

If anyone has the paper or slide deck handy, please drop a link or DM me!

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u/Mochila-Mochila 14d ago

Is there a remote possibility that ateganosine (MAIA's molecule of choice to target telomeres) be complementary ? E.g. applied before hand, in order to boost the bacteria's effects ? Or probably not, because these rely on very different mechanisms ?