Research Focus

Cancer immunotherapy is a hot field in cancer therapy today. The value-added researches of Chinese herbal medicines, including the development of new indications and the exploration of high-potential Taiwan medicinal plants for immunomodulation and cancer therapy, are the important topics. We will use the plant compounds derived from Chinese herbal medicine originated from Taiwan endemic species to develop the new immunomodulators. They activate specific immune responses to kill tumor cells or regulate immune function.

Development of the immunomodulators from Chinese herbal medicine for cancer therapy

It is well known that multiple genetic events involved in cancer development lead to the generation of tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) and cancer patients develop endogenous antitumor autoantibodies (EAAs). Typically, these EAAs in cancer patients have not had a significant effect on tumor elimination, which may be due to immune tolerance induction by the tumor. However, EAAs isolated from the sera of cancer patients activate the humoral immune response against some malignant tumors has been considered. Although the therapeutic effects of EAAs are ill-defined, these studies display their potential for clinical therapy. EAA's cancer immunotherapy also provides us an important concept. These targeted therapies use EAA that are compatible with their own tumor antigens. This treatment can achieve the goal of precision medicine.

We found that EAAs exert their abilities to specifically recognize the tumor antigens to inhibit tumor growth through improving the quality and quantity of EAAs. This EAA activation can be regulated. The anti-tumor drug P4N acts as an activator to mediate monocyte to promote B cell proliferation and differentiation through activating LTA4H /Activin A / BAFF signaling. P4N increased EAA production and induced EAA class switching to effectively inhibit the growth of metastatic colorectal cancer. Based on this mechanism of EAA activation, we will establish a drug screening system for finding out the immunomodulators that activate EAA. These novel immunomodulators help regulate the activity of EAA to eliminate metastatic tumor cells and provide new options for future cancer treatment.