![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/f8edbcdf7b.png\")
<\/p>\nChinese researchers have developed an innovative “intratumoral vaccine” molecule that prevents cancer cells from suppressing immune function while redirecting the body’s pre-existing immune memory to attack tumors — offering a novel approach for cancer treatment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Photo: Shenzhen Bay Laboratory)<\/p>\n
Scientists from Shenzhen Bay Laboratory and Peking University reported the findings in a study published online in the journal Nature on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Although immune checkpoint blockade therapy has transformed cancer treatment by enhancing the immune system’s ability to target tumors, it remains ineffective for many patients. A primary reason is that due to low mutational burden and a consequent paucity of neoantigens, malignant cells in many patients evade immune system recognition.<\/p>\n
The research team turned to a largely untapped immune resource known as “bystander T cells.” Generated in response to prior infections such as cytomegalovirus (CMV), these T cells remain dormant yet retain immunological memory in most adults. The researchers proposed that if tumors could be made to display CMV antigens, these abundant memory T cells could be mobilized against the cancer.<\/p>\n
To realize this, the team designed a synthetic molecule called an “intratumoral vaccination chimera” (iVAC). This dual-function molecule irreversibly targets and degrades PD-L1 protein on tumor cells — effectively releasing the immune system’s brakes — while also delivering a CMV antigen epitope. By marking tumors with this viral signature, iVAC redirects the body’s reservoir of anti-CMV T cells to recognize and eliminate cancer cells.<\/p>\n
In both mouse models and patient-derived tumor clusters, iVAC successfully activated T cells and exhibited strong anti-tumor activity. The results demonstrate the potential of harnessing the immune system’s memory against common viruses for cancer therapy.<\/p>\n
The researchers are now developing translational molecules based on the mechanism in the study and aim to progress this technology toward future clinical trials, said Chen Peng, a senior investigator from Shenzhen Bay Laboratory.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chinese researchers have developed an innovative “intratumoral vaccine” molecule that prevents cancer cells from suppressing immune function while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,63,128,13433,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-404219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-shenzhen","12":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}