Sense-and-respond implant aims to improve cancer outcomes

The award from the US Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has gone to researchers from seven US states whose first-of-its-kind approach to cancer treatment aims to improve immunotherapy outcomes for patients with ovarian, pancreatic and other difficult-to-treat cancers.

Weiyi Peng, assistant professor of biology and biochemistry at the University of Houston’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, is co-principal investigator and one of three group leaders of the project. She will lead preclinical testing of the targeted hybrid oncotherapeutic regulation (THOR) technology, along with discovery of biomarkers associated with efficacy.

“By integrating a self-regulated circuit, the THOR technology can adjust the dose of immunotherapy reagents based on a patient’s responses,” Peng said in a statement. “With this new feature, THOR is expected to achieve better efficacy and minimise immune-related toxicity. We hope this personalised immunotherapy will revolutionise treatments for patients with peritoneal cancers that affect the liver, lungs and other organs.”