A team multidisciplinary of the research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) and the Clínica Universidad de Navarra has presented a new strategy to boost the immune response to cancer. These novel tools have been published in the latest issue of Nature Reviews Drug Discoverya scientific journal of reference letter .

Current immunotherapy is based on the use of antibodies and modified cells. However, the work of these Spanish researchers, carried out at partnership with German and American scientists, concludes that molecules based on ribonucleic acid (RNA) can achieve similar objectives and, sometimes, more benefits thanks to the advances of biotechnology in this field. According to Dr. Fernando Pastor, researcher of the Molecular Therapies Program at CIMA, "various forms of RNA can be used for vaccination, also to silence immunosuppressive genes (as antibody equivalents) or as tools to transiently engineer immune system cells". Furthermore, appropriately formulated, RNA can mimic the presence of a virus in tissue and strongly potentiate the local immune response with the ability to destroy cancerous tissue.

"RNA-based treatments are not intended to replace conventional immunotherapy but to achieve complementary results by taking advantage of its benefits and trying to achieve efficacy in cases refractory to the current procedure . At Clínica Universidad de Navarra we have open clinical trials based on this approach to confirm the effect of its administration on the evolution of patients. For the time being, the data indicate that they are feasible and safe therapies," explains Dr. Ignacio Melero, researcher senior of the Immunology and Immunotherapy Program at CIMA and co-director of department of Immunology at Clínica Universidad de Navarra.

"The advance in these new tools has been possible thanks to the close and intense partnership of CIMA with the companies Bioncotech, Moderna Therapeutics and Roche, which facilitates the development of these treatments both in experimental models and in the clinical internship ", highlights Dr. Pedro Berraondo, immunologist of CIMA and author of work, in which Iñaki Etxeberria, predoctoral student of laboratory of Immunology, has also participated.

• reference letter bibliography: https://www.nature.com/articles/nrd.2018.132/