[ad_1]
Researchers at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute discovered a new form of immune cell, known as a stem-like CD4 T cell, that plays a key role in anti-tumor immunity. Pre-clinical findings, published in Nature, indicate the ability to activate these cells to more effectively fight tumors, providing new hope for broader treatment success, especially in cancer patients who Are unresponsive to conventional immunotherapy.
The study, led by Hayden T. Kissick, PhD, a researcher in the Cancer Immunology Research Program at the Winship Cancer Institute and assistant professor in the Department of Urology at Emory University School of Medicine, shows that these stem-like CD4 T cells reside . Lymph nodes near the tumor. Despite being able to mount powerful anti-tumor responses, these cells often remain dormant, limiting the immune system’s response to tumors.
Role of stem-like CD4 T cells in cancer immunotherapy.
Stem-like CD4 T cells can renew themselves and turn into different immune cell types. These cells are marked by two specific proteins, PD1 and TCF1, which help determine their behavior, including self-renewal and regulation. In lab models, activating these cells made a common immunotherapy treatment called PD1 blockade more effective against cancer.
“In about the 10 percent of patients where stem-like CD4 cells are activated, there is a much stronger immune response to the cancer,” Kisik says. “These patients survive longer after surgery and are more likely to respond to checkpoint immunotherapy. However, the challenge we identified is that in most patients, this cell remains in a suppressed state, which essentially Tells the immune system to remain inactive and ignore the tumor.”
First author Maria Cárdenas emphasizes the importance of overcoming this suppression: “Most importantly, while it is common for cancer patients’ immune systems to be in a dormant state, we found that stem-like CD4 T cells were activated. “It can trigger a potent anti-tumor immune response and enhance the response to PD1 blockade in animal models.”
Possibility of immunotherapy progress
The findings showed that almost all patients had stem-like CD4 T cells in the lymph nodes surrounding their tumors. “Understanding how to teach these cells to switch between active and inactive states could identify new ways to treat many more patients with immunotherapy,” Kisik explains. Future exploration of this finding is necessary to determine how cells turn on the immune response and keep it going. The researchers aim to use mRNA and lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology to reprogram these stem-like CD4 T cells, effectively removing the brakes on the immune response to cancer.
“We still have many questions to answer and challenges to overcome,” Kissick said. “I am confident that Emory’s Winship is the place to make these discoveries and advancements and to determine how to take advantage of these mechanisms to target cells and direct them to do what we need to achieve the immune response.” “We have all the pieces of the puzzle here, it’s just a matter of putting them together. Our Phase I clinical trial unit is strong, and we have physicians and patients contributing as well.”
[ad_2]
