They work to design a drug for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases

The investigator gabriel rabinovichfrom the Institute of Experimental Medicine and Biology, announced Monday that work is being done to design “as soon as possible” a drug that increases the immune response in the treatment of patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases.

This is how he explained it to the president Alberto Fernandezwho received this Monday the Cordovan biochemist and prestigious Conicet researcher, prominent in the scientific community for his important contribution to cancer therapies.

Rabinovich detailed the president about the discoveries for the treatment of cancerous tumors and autoimmune diseases from a protein called galectin 1and that together with the work to develop an Argentine vaccine against Covid-19, are the most important investigations that are being carried out in the country in scientific matters.

Accompanied by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmusand the head of the Conicet, Ana Franchithe researcher said that the president, in the meeting held at the Casa Rosada, valued the importance of the investigation and told them that they had “all his support”, considering that “these projects must transcend several governments, because they are long and they must ride through all the political winds.”

In this sense, they agreed on the support represented by the Law on the Financing of Science, Technology and Innovation, approved last year by Congress, which ensures funds for research, which increase progressively and which also promote the support from the private sector, he said.

Rabinovich, a biochemist of Córdoba origin, whose research had a great international impact, highlighted the work being done 20 years ago in Córdoba with a protein, galectin 1, used by tumors to evade the immune system and form new blood vessels, with which the tumor can generate metastasis.

Thus, he said that work is being done to arrive “as soon as possible” to design a drug that increases the immune response in the treatment of patients with cancer, such as melanoma and colon rectal, and autoimmune diseasesalthough he indicated that he would not like to “generate false expectations or talk about a possible cure”, as happened in other times with other investigations.

“In this last stage, what we decided to investigate is what would happen if we blocked the GAL-1 protein, if we generated a drug, a drug, an antagonist, a monoclonal antibody that inhibits the expression of this protein,” he reported, adding that in research in animals “when the tumor wants to produce it, we neutralize it”.

“There are several treatments, and the future in cancer treatment, which is already being seen now, is to make combinations for each type of tumor,” he said.

The team led by @gabyrabi managed to neutralize in patient tissue a protein used by tumors to survive by evading the immune system ? It was the result of more than 25 years of work in different Argentine provinces ??#WithCIENCIAinyourLife pic.twitter.com/q1xs5k9Jyj

— Daniel Filmus (@FilmusDaniel) February 13, 2023

“Immunotherapy and antiangiogenic therapy work very well in a percentage of patients, some are treated and live many years with an excellent quality of life, but we would not like to talk about a cure, we believe that it can benefit other patients who are resistant to other therapies,” Rabinovich explained.

The antiangiogenic therapy It consists of preventing tumors from developing blood vessels from pre-existing ones, which is called angiogenesis, to supply themselves with oxygen and nutrients in order to grow and spread, blocking this possibility.

In any case, he commented that “we are much closer to beginning clinical phases, because for a drug to become a reality it has to go through different clinical phases, then present itself to the regulatory authority and do all the steps required to reach patients with all the ethical guidelines of medicine.

The work began after “we made the central discovery in melanoma in skin tumors; then we went on to discover it in other types of tumors, such as pancreatic tumors, and lately in colorectal tumors. We did these last experiments on material from melanoma patients with skin tumors, but it could be extrapolated to other types of tumors”, recalled Rabinovich.

“One good thing, that we were talking with the president, is that this finding that we made, which was in 1993 in Córdoba and then was very solid in 2004, when we published the results, is that there are other laboratories that have begun to work with this protein, and we are very happy that there are other laboratories that have turned to work on this path”, he highlighted.

In addition to the support of the National Government, the researcher mentioned the work of the Glycomedicine laboratory and the Institute of Biology and Experimental Medicine (IBYME, CONICET), the Glycobiology and Vascular Biology laboratory directed by Diego Croci at the IHEM in Mendoza, and the Institute Histology and Embryology of Mendoza.

Rabinovich, with a long and recognized scientific career, is a full professor of Immunotherapy at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the UBA, a visiting professor at foreign universities, and deputy director of the Institute of Experimental Biology and Medicine (IBYME), founded by Bernardo Houssay in 1944.

Among other distinctions, he received the Konex Platinum Award in 2013 and in 2014 for his career in Experimental Medicine from the Bunge y Born Foundation, and was also recognized by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the United States, for his studies and the discoveries made about galectin-1.

Argentine science can achieve wonderful things like these: progress in immunotherapy treatments against tumors, particularly against cancer.

It is the duty of a present State to support and develop knowledge ⬇️ https://t.co/I7xn9wxcYv

– Alberto Fernandez (@alferdez) February 14, 2023