New Way to Fight Brain Cancer Shows Promise

A new way to fight an extremely aggressive kind of brain tumor is showing promise in two experiments with a small number of patients.

一种对抗极具侵袭性的脑肿瘤的新方法在针对少数患者的两项实验中显示出希望。

For the experiments, scientists took patients’ own immune cells and turned them into “living drugs” that can find and attack the tumor, called glioblastoma. Researchers have reported that, in early tests, the immune cells have made the tumors temporarily smaller.

在实验中，科学家们将患者自身的免疫细胞转化为“活药物”，可以发现并攻击称为胶质母细胞瘤的肿瘤。研究人员报告说，在早期测试中，免疫细胞使肿瘤暂时变小。

The treatment is called CAR-T therapy. Doctors already use the treatment to fight blood-related cancers like leukemia. But researchers have struggled to make CAR-T therapy work for solid tumors.

这种治疗方法称为 CAR-T 疗法。医生已经使用这种疗法来对抗白血病等与血液相关的癌症。但研究人员一直在努力让 CAR-T 疗法适用于实体瘤。

Now, separate teams at both Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania are developing next-generation CAR-T therapy treatments. They are designed to get past some of glioblastoma’s defenses.

现在，马萨诸塞州总医院和宾夕法尼亚大学的不同团队正在开发下一代 CAR-T 疗法。它们旨在突破胶质母细胞瘤的一些防御。

University of Pennsylvania’s Dr. Stephen Bagley led one of the studies. He warned, “It’s very early days.” But he added, “We’re optimistic that we’ve got something to build on here…”

宾夕法尼亚大学的斯蒂芬·巴格利博士领导了其中一项研究。他警告说：“现在还为时过早。”但他补充道，“我们乐观地认为，我们在这里可以有所建树……”

Glioblastoma is the brain cancer that killed U.S. President Joe Biden’s son Beau Biden. It also took the life of longtime Arizona Senator John McCain.

胶质母细胞瘤是导致美国总统乔·拜登的儿子博·拜登死亡的脑癌。它还夺去了长期担任亚利桑那州参议员约翰·麦凯恩的生命。

Glioblastoma is fast-growing and hard to treat. Patients usually live 12 to 18 months after diagnosis. Even after many years of research, there are few options if the cancer returns after treatments.

胶质母细胞瘤生长快速且难以治疗。诊断后患者通常可存活 12 至 18 个月。即使经过多年的研究，如果癌症在治疗后复发，也几乎没有选择。

A kind of cell in the immune system called T cells fight disease, but cancer has ways to hide. With CAR-T therapy, doctors genetically change a patient’s own T cells so they can better find different cancer cells.

免疫系统中有一种称为 T 细胞的细胞可以对抗疾病，但癌症却有办法隐藏。通过 CAR-T 疗法，医生对患者自身的 T 细胞进行基因改造，以便更好地发现不同的癌细胞。

But solid tumors like glioblastoma have an additional difficulty. They contain mixtures of cancer cells with different mutations. Targeting just one kind still means the other kinds can keep growing.

但像胶质母细胞瘤这样的实体瘤还有一个额外的困难。它们含有具有不同突变的癌细胞混合物。仅针对一种类型仍然意味着其他类型可以继续增长。

The teams at Massachusetts General Hospital and University of Pennsylvania each developed a therapy with two different methods. They tried them in patients whose tumors returned after usual treatment.

马萨诸塞州总医院和宾夕法尼亚大学的团队各自开发了一种采用两种不同方法的疗法。他们在常规治疗后肿瘤复发的患者身上进行了试验。

At Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Marcela Maus and her team combined CAR-T with T-cell engaging antibody molecules. T-cell engaging antibody molecules are molecules that can attract nearby, regular T cells to join in the cancer attack. The result, called CAR-TEAM, targets a protein called EGFR. EGFR is found in most glioblastomas but not in normal brain tissue.

在马萨诸塞州总医院，Marcela Maus 博士和她的团队将 CAR-T 与 T 细胞接合抗体分子结合起来。 T 细胞参与抗体分子是可以吸引附近的常规 T 细胞加入癌症攻击的分子。该成果称为 CAR-TEAM，针对一种名为 EGFR 的蛋白质。 EGFR 存在于大多数胶质母细胞瘤中，但不存在于正常脑组织中。

The University of Pennsylvania’s method was to create a two-target CAR-T therapy. It hunts for both the EGFR protein plus a second protein found in many glioblastomas.

宾夕法尼亚大学的方法是创建一种双靶点 CAR-T 疗法。它寻找 EGFR 蛋白以及许多胶质母细胞瘤中发现的第二种蛋白。

Both teams administered the treatment through a medical device called a catheter into the fluid that surrounds the brain.

两个团队都通过一种称为导管的医疗设备将治疗注入大脑周围的液体中。

Massachusetts General Hospital tested three patients with its CAR-TEAM therapy. Brain imagining a day or two later showed their tumors were quickly becoming smaller. The researchers reported their findings in the publication the New England Journal of Medicine.

马萨诸塞州总医院使用 CAR-TEAM 疗法对三名患者进行了测试。一两天后的大脑想象显示他们的肿瘤正在迅速变小。研究人员在《新英格兰医学杂志》杂志上报告了他们的发现。

Maus said, “None of us could really believe it.”Two of the patients’ tumors began to regrow soon. A second treatment given to one of them did not work. But one patient’s response to the experimental treatment lasted more than six months.

莫斯说：“我们谁都不敢相信。”其中两名患者的肿瘤很快开始再生。其中一人接受了第二次治疗，但没有效果。但一名患者对实验性治疗的反应持续了六个月以上。

University of Pennsylvania researchers reported their findings in the publication Nature Medicine. They similarly found that in the first six patients given its therapy tumors got smaller. While some came back quickly, Bagley said one patient treated last August still has not had any regrowth. For both teams, the goal is to see longer-lasting results. Bagley said, “None of this is going to matter if it doesn’t last.”

宾夕法尼亚大学的研究人员在《自然医学》杂志上报告了他们的发现。他们同样发现，在接受治疗的前六名患者中，肿瘤变小了。巴格利说，虽然有些人很快就康复了，但去年八月接受治疗的一名患者仍然没有任何再生。对于两个团队来说，目标都是看到更持久的成果。巴格利说：“如果这种情况不能持久，那么这一切都不重要。”