01-05-2023, 03:00 PM
Lee Li Ying
UPDATED 9 HOURS AGO
SINGAPORE - A research team led by the National Cancer Centre Singapore has discovered how cancer cells escape detection and destruction by the immune system – a feature that was previously unknown.
The findings have implications for the development of novel strategies for cancer treatment, bringing medicine closer to curing even the most lethal of cancers
......
The team, comprising members from Duke-NUS Medical School, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s (A*Star) Singapore Immunology Network, the University of Southampton and the Alan Turing Institute, had their breakthrough discovery published in scientific journal Nature Communications on March 27.
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They also found that a substantial proportion of CD8+ cells, a key component of the immune system that searches for and kills abnormal cells such as cancer cells, were “exhausted” and unable to perform their protective role. This occurred when the immune cells were repeatedly exposed to cancer and unable to eliminate it.
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The researchers also discovered a new pathway – called Midkine receptors – that allows the cancer cells and CD8+ immune cells to talk to each other.
Prof Iyer said that when the Midkine pathway is activated between the cancer cells and the immune cells, the cancer cells are effectively emitting a “don’t eat me” signal.
......
“If you block this pathway and treat it with anti-PD1 treatment (an anti-cancer drug), you convert this ‘don’t eat me’ signal to an ‘eat me’ signal and reactivate the killer CD8+ cells,” he added.
But some cancer cells continued to show their ability to escape immune surveillance.
“Just like some employees who are too burnt out to work properly even with a bonus, some immune cells were seen to remain exhausted even after treatment, which is how cancer may not be detected and effectively destroyed by the immune system,” said Prof Iyer.
Despite that, one key takeaway from the findings is that the ability to activate the immune system still works even after the cancer has spread.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/n...une-system
UPDATED 9 HOURS AGO
SINGAPORE - A research team led by the National Cancer Centre Singapore has discovered how cancer cells escape detection and destruction by the immune system – a feature that was previously unknown.
The findings have implications for the development of novel strategies for cancer treatment, bringing medicine closer to curing even the most lethal of cancers
......
The team, comprising members from Duke-NUS Medical School, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s (A*Star) Singapore Immunology Network, the University of Southampton and the Alan Turing Institute, had their breakthrough discovery published in scientific journal Nature Communications on March 27.
......
They also found that a substantial proportion of CD8+ cells, a key component of the immune system that searches for and kills abnormal cells such as cancer cells, were “exhausted” and unable to perform their protective role. This occurred when the immune cells were repeatedly exposed to cancer and unable to eliminate it.
......
The researchers also discovered a new pathway – called Midkine receptors – that allows the cancer cells and CD8+ immune cells to talk to each other.
Prof Iyer said that when the Midkine pathway is activated between the cancer cells and the immune cells, the cancer cells are effectively emitting a “don’t eat me” signal.
......
“If you block this pathway and treat it with anti-PD1 treatment (an anti-cancer drug), you convert this ‘don’t eat me’ signal to an ‘eat me’ signal and reactivate the killer CD8+ cells,” he added.
But some cancer cells continued to show their ability to escape immune surveillance.
“Just like some employees who are too burnt out to work properly even with a bonus, some immune cells were seen to remain exhausted even after treatment, which is how cancer may not be detected and effectively destroyed by the immune system,” said Prof Iyer.
Despite that, one key takeaway from the findings is that the ability to activate the immune system still works even after the cancer has spread.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/n...une-system