H is for cancer

Letting the immune system do the heavy work, a group at Duke University has developed a cancer-killing antibody by studying the blood of atypical lung cancer patients with a slowly progressive form of the disease. By blocking a form of complement factor H found only in tumors, the antibody could exploit an innate immune mechanism that has eluded drug developers.

The team identified anti-factor H autoantibodies from B cells in blood from patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that did not metastasize. Then it used the molecules to derive a recombinant mAb that suppressed tumors in various cell-based and mouse models of cancer. Now, it is spinning out Cue Biologics LLC to develop the compound and raising money for a Phase I trial in the next 18 months. ...