SUMMARY:
UCLA researchers in the School of Dentistry have discovered novel therapeutic methods involving probiotic bacteria and super-charged natural killer cells that successfully prevent bone loss in pancreatic cancer, with huge therapeutic potential for other cancer types and diseases.
BACKGROUND:
Metabolic bone disorders are associated with several types of cancer. With pancreatic cancer, the third deadliest type of cancer, patients often suffer severe nutrition deficiency, muscle wasting, and loss of bone mass, from both the cancer itself and as side effects from treatment. While carcinogenesis and muscle wasting have been under intensive investigation, bone loss and its related molecular mechanism in pancreatic cancer is still poorly understood. Effective prevention and treatment of bone loss could have beneficial implications for cancer patients, improving their quality of life, reducing direct and indirect medical costs, and enhancing therapeutic efficacy against the disease.
INNOVATION:
UCLA researchers led by Dr. Anahid Jewett in the School of Dentistry have made novel strides in developing therapies for preventing cancer-related bone loss. To test the efficacy of their proposed methods using natural killer (NK) cells and/or probiotic bacteria to prevent bone loss, the researchers cultured osteoclasts, cells responsible for the dissolution and absorption of bone, with NK cells and the probiotic, and saw increased secretion of interferon gamma (IFN-γ), a cytokine that inhibits activation of osteoclasts and protects bones from being resorbed. In hu-BLT mice, the researchers demonstrated that tumor-bearing mice injected with NK cells and fed with and without the probiotic bacteria increased bone formation and IFN-γ secretion. They also found that injection of sonicated osteoclasts in combination with either the super-charged NK cells or feeding with probiotic bacteria also increased and prevented bone loss. Taken together, these novel therapeutic methods to prevent bone loss and even induce bone formation could improve the quality of life and therapeutic efficacy for cancer patients.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:
• Prevent bone loss, or even induce bone formation in some cases, for cancer and other diseases
• Potential co-therapy with cancer treatments that induce bone loss as a side effect
ADVANTAGES:
• Increased IFN-γ secretion can inhibit tumor growth
• Probiotic bacteria is a non-invasive method for preventing bone loss
DEVELOPMENT-TO-DATE:
The UCLA researchers have successfully shown in in vivo murine models that their novel therapeutic methods prevent bone loss.
Related Papers (from the inventors only)
Ko, M.W., Kaur, K., Safaei, T., Chen, W., Sutanto, C., Wong, P., Jewett, A. Defective Patient NK Patient is Reversed by AJ2 Probiotic Bacteria or Addition of Allogenic Healthy Monocytes. Cells, 2022, 11,697.