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Of Mice Not Men: Cutting cancer at the root, stitching cells into new materials

This is a recurring column on early stage research in animals or other laboratory models that has not entered the clinic yet but could have implications for future research and development of human medicines.

Eyes on a potential cancer pathway

A protein that helps early cell development could be the root of cancers' immune system-evasion strategies, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Cancer Center.

Led by Heide Ford, associate director of basic research at the center, researchers studied the role of the protein Eya3 in triple-negative breast cancer, a subtype of the disease that does not show high hormone levels, which makes it difficult to treat with specialized medicines.

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The Eya family of proteins — four of which are present in mammals — is key in embryonic cell development, but the group usually goes silent in adult tissues. Certain tumors will reactivate these cells, driving cancers' growth and spread, according to Ford and her team.

This can help cancers produce a molecule known as the PD-L1 protein, which cloaks tumor cells from immune system attacks, making that protein the target of blockbuster therapies from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Merck & Co. Inc., Roche Holding AG and AstraZeneca PLC. Both Bristol-Myers' Opdivo and Merck's Keytruda generated more than $1.4 billion in first-quarter 2018 revenues.

Targeting the Eya3 protein could strike cancer cells before they start producing PD-L1 proteins and others, Ford said. While many in the science community knew this particular molecule was important, no one had delved into whether it actually mediates tumor progression, she said in an interview.

"These Eya molecules are key developmental regulators, but we're the first to demonstrate that they actually play a role in tumor progression via affecting the immune system," she said. "It could have implications beyond triple-negative breast cancer."

This breast cancer type shows especially high levels of Eya3, making it the focus of this study. But Ford believes it will not be the only Eya family member that can play a role.

The family gets its name from one of its essential characteristics: If you knock the Eya molecules out of developing fly embryos, the insects are born without eyes, or eye-absent, Ford said. This importance in cell development could easily have more implications for tumors' growth tactics, meaning the team's next step is to parse out an immune system's reaction to various Eya protein changes.

Building blocks to cell-inspired materials

Researchers in London have configured lasers to fuse and arrange cells, opening the door to materials that mimic live tissue.

These collections of artificial cells, cobbled together like bricks, can be engineered to do increasingly complex tasks, Yuval Elani, a research fellow at the Imperial College London and lead researcher on the study, said in an interview.

Biological cells are complicated to control, and even artificial cells pose their own problems, bouncing off of one another in the lab before Elani's team altered their membranes to allow them to stick together.

"They won't necessarily replace organs or tissues, but they could be like a fabric," he said. "Imagine having a fabric which, when you rip it, self-heals and self-repairs."

The technology can also help deliver material into cells, change their composition or track their biologic response to those changes, Elani added.

Researchers are also exploring hybrid possibilities, housing biological cells inside artificial versions to safely produce chemicals, according to a research paper published a few weeks earlier.

The team is now exploring hybrid bacteria cells that can be designed to sense their environment, from reacting to stimuli to drawing energy from sunlight, Elani said.

"It basically allows us to incorporate the really cool stuff that living systems can do and integrate them into synthetic structures and synthetic tissues," he said.

Bacteria-based therapy could clear up skin condition

A bacteria naturally present on skin could help heal eczema, a painful skin condition with recent drug options on the market.

Roseomonas mucosa, or R. mucosa, taken from healthy skin relieved dry and itchy skin symptoms in mice treated topically with the bacteria, researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, said in a paper published in JCI Insight.

"Living with atopic dermatitis can be physically and emotionally challenging. While treatment can help manage the symptoms, currently available therapies can be time-consuming — requiring multiple daily applications — and costly," Anthony Fauci, NIAID director, said in a statement.

French drugmaker Sanofi and its Tarrytown, N.Y.-based partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. launched Dupixent, an injectable drug for severe eczema, in March 2017.

The therapy is listed at $37,000 but factors out to about $30,000 after discounts and rebates, a price the companies said they discussed with the U.S. price watchdog the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review. Dupixent made $131.4 million in first-quarter 2018 revenues.

NIAID researchers said that while the cause of eczema remains unknown, previous studies have suggested that the skin's bacterial community plays an essential role. For instance, eczema patients usually show high levels of another bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus.

Based on the promising results in mice, NIAID initiated an ongoing safety test for its use in human adults and children.

The National Institutes of Health has exclusively licensed the technology to the private, Delaware-based biotech Forte Biosciences Inc. for further clinical development, it said in a statement.