South Korean researchers unveil precision anticancer platform that blocks tumor-cell communication
A team from Sungkyunkwan University and KIST has created a new cancer-treatment platform that halts the exchange of extracellular vesicles between tumor cells and their supportive surroundings.
Researchers from Sungkyunkwan University and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology have developed a novel anticancer strategy that simultaneously attacks cancer cells and the fibroblasts that nurture them. Using EGFR as a guide, the team engineered an antibody-drug conjugate that delivers a protein-degrading payload against cyclooxygenase-2, effectively shutting down extracellular vesicle release. This interruption of vesicle-mediated communication collapses the tumor-stroma crosstalk that normally promotes growth and drug resistance.
Experiments in cell cultures and mouse models demonstrated markedly lower cancer cell migration and a clear reduction in tumor size. The work, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, was funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea, highlighting a potential new avenue for precision oncology.
Why it matters
Disrupting tumor-cell communication could lead to more effective, less resistant cancer therapies.
In this story
