RESEARCHERS ARE INVESTIGATING a new treatment approach that uses the power of cold to destroy tumor cells, followed by an immune-boosting infusion in the same area.

The approach, called SYNC-T, uses a probe to freeze a portion of a prostate cancer tumor, fracturing tumor cells and stimulating an immune response. Next, physicians infuse a multitargeted drug into the same area of tumor cells. The experimental drug, called SV-102, combines two immune checkpoint inhibitors that block immune-suppressing proteins on cancer cells and two agents that ramp up the body’s immune response.

Investigators tested SYNC-T in a phase I clinical trial that enrolled 15 people with metastatic prostate cancer, the results of which were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in April 2024. (The AACR publishes Cancer Today.) Most of these patients had hormone-resistant prostate cancer, which means the cancer had stopped responding to hormone therapy. People with this type of cancer have few treatment options and typically do not respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Eleven of 13 participants evaluated for this analysis had a tumor response, including five who had a complete response, meaning scans showed no trace of cancer. The remaining two people evaluated in the study had no tumor growth, according to the findings presented by Charles Link, an adjunct professor at Lankenau Institute for Medical Research in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. Link is cofounder and executive chairman of Syncromune, which developed SYNC-T and sponsored the clinical trial.

The new approach also appeared to help cut down on side effects typically associated with traditional immunotherapy, Link said. “Our results indicate that SYNC-T is associated with a high response rate without generating severe toxicity in this initial group of patients,” Link said.

Syncromune is also exploring this approach using a different multitargeted drug for other advanced types of cancer, such as breast cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.