Cancer patients could benefit from a new discovery linking DNA to treatment success, after experts unearthed a ‘vital weak spot’ in the devastating disease.
Certain types of cancers are treated with immunotherapy – drugs which harness the body’s natural defences to attack cancer cells – but with varying degrees of success.
Now, scientists have found a way they may be able to boost the drug’s effectiveness – and it’s all to do with the ‘energy factories’ within tumours.
Every living cell is powered by special compartments called mitochondria, which generate energy.
Experts have discovered that, by ‘rewiring’ the DNA of mitochondria, they can make a tumour up to two and a half times more likely to respond to drugs. They did this by focusing on a common immunotherapy drug called nivolumab – used to treat the likes of melanoma, lung cancer, liver cancer and bowel cancer. It works by releasing a ‘brake’ on the immune system to attack cancer cells.
Experiments revealed nivolumab was up to two and a half times more effective when tumours had high levels of mitochondrial DNA mutations.
This could allow doctors to figure out which patients will benefit most from immunotherapy before starting treatment, the scientists said. -Dailymail.uk
