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Samuel Sánchez at IBEC laboratories. Foto / IBEC
 03.03.2025

Novel nanomotors improve bladder cancer immunotherapy

A study led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), located at Barcelona Science Park, has developed an innovative nanomotor-based strategy to improve immunotherapy for bladder cancer. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, offers a promising alternative to the limitations of existing treatments, opening up new possibilities in oncology. The new nanomotor-based therapy offers a more effective alternative, activating the immune system more efficiently and significantly reducing tumour growth in preclinical mouse models.

Today, the conventional treatment for non-invasive bladder cancer is immunotherapy with BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin), a weakened bacterium that is introduced into the bladder to stimulate an immune response against tumour cells. However, this treatment has important limitations, such as the need for multiple administrations, severe side effects and reduced efficacy in certain patients. Davant d’aquests inconvenients, l’equip de recerca de l’IBEC, juntament amb la Universitat de Ciència i Tecnologia de Pohang (POSTECH) de Corea del Sud, ha descrit el desenvolupament de nanomotors propulsats per urea que milloren la immunoteràpia contra el càncer de bufeta.

These nanomotors are self-propelled nanoparticles that use the enzyme urease to react with urea in urine. This ability to move allows them to be distributed more efficiently in the bladder, reaching tumour cells more precisely and prolonging the drug’s time in the affected tissue. The nanomotors carry on their surface a STING agonist, a key molecule in the activation of the immune system. ‘We have shown that our approach is more effective than conventional BCG treatment in mice, which is a breakthrough in immunotherapy for this type of cancer,’ explains Samuel Sánchez, ICREA Research Professor at IBEC and co-leader of the study.

(a) The intravesical delivery of urease-powered nanomotors for bladder cancer immunotherapy and (b) the preparation procedure of urease-powered nanomotors containing STING agonist (STING@nanomotor, size = ca. 600 nm) by the electrostatic interaction of chitosan and heparin. a created in BioRender. Choi, H. (2024) https://BioRender.com/u13b061.

To further boost the immune response, the researchers combined the nanomotors with a PD-1 inhibitor, a treatment that blocks an escape mechanism used by tumour cells. “The combination of our nanomotors with the anti-PD-1 treatment showed a remarkable synergy that could lead to more effective combination therapies with fewer side effects,” adds Samuel Sánchez.

The study represents an important advance in the search for new therapeutic strategies for bladder cancer, a disease with a high recurrence rate that requires aggressive and prolonged treatment.

PHI BIOMED Co., Seoul National University, Seoul National University Hospital, CIC biomaGUNE of the Basque Country and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) participated in this work.

» Article of reference: Hyunsik Choi, Seung-hwan Jeong, Cristina Simó, Anna Bakenecker, Jordi Liop, Hye Sun Lee, Tae Yeon Kim, Cheol Kwak, Gou Young Koh, Samuel Sánchez & Sei Kwang Hahn. Urease-powered nanomotor containing STING agonist for bladder cancer immunotherapy. Nature Communications (2024). doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54293-z

» Link to the news: IBEC website