Aragon opens a new path against the most aggressive cancers with dromedary nanoantibodies

A team from the Aragon Health Research Institute is developing a technology capable of improving diagnosis, guiding surgeries, and delivering treatments directly to the tumor to reduce side effects.

Cancer research in Aragon continues to break new ground. A team from Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón), led by the researcher Alberto Jimenez Schuhmacher, is achieving promising advances thanks to the use of nanoantibodies obtained from dromedaries, a tool that could revolutionize both the diagnosis and treatment of some of the most aggressive cancers.

The project began with a specific goal: to develop a kind of "virtual biopsy" capable of obtaining information about tumors without always resorting to invasive sampling, especially in cancers that are difficult to access, such as brain cancers. However, the research opened new doors, leading to therapeutic applications that are currently under development.

The key lies in so-called nanobodies, derived from the natural antibodies found in dromedary camels. Their small size allows them to penetrate tumor tissues more effectively and reach areas that conventional antibodies have more difficulty accessing.

Researchers have succeeded in using these nanoantibodies to identify cancer cells, illuminate tumors during surgery using fluorescence, and even employ them as vehicles capable of delivering drugs directly to malignant cells. "What began as a tool to improve diagnosis has also become a potential therapeutic strategy," explains Jiménez Schuhmacher, whose work is supported by entities such as the Spanish Association Against Cancer, ASPANOA, Ibercaja Foundation and the Project Sara.

Among the most promising avenues is the treatment of the most aggressive breast cancers. The goal is to attach drugs to these nanoantibodies so that they accumulate only in the tumor, thus increasing the effectiveness of the treatments and reducing their toxicity. Currently, a large portion of the chemotherapy administered is distributed throughout the body, and only a small fraction reaches the tumor tissue.

In addition, the group is working on applications for brain tumors, sarcomas and prostate cancer, always with a common philosophy: to develop more precise, less invasive and better targeted therapies.

Artificial intelligence has also become an ally in these advances. Tools capable of analyzing microscopic images, identifying tumor cells, or predicting how antibodies interact with certain proteins are accelerating processes that just a few years ago required several work sessions.

Despite the difficulties arising from funding and the high level of scientific competition, the researcher remains optimistic. "We are living in a very exciting time for research," he says, convinced that collaboration between laboratories, hospitals, and patient associations is allowing scientific discoveries to be translated into clinical practice at an increasingly rapid pace.

While science continues to search for answers to more than 200 different types of cancer, Aragonese laboratories are demonstrating that some of the most innovative answers can emerge precisely from Aragon.

Source: Today, Zaragoza