A team of researchers has obtained new insights into the process by which inflammatory mediators of pathogen defense can indirectly push cancer cells toward death. This is definitely a significant addition to the improvement of cancer immunotherapies.
More on how researchers acquired their insights and what they found below.
Breakthrough Research on Cancer’s Immune Defense
In our work, we have been looking for strategies to target such cancer cells that are ‘invisible’ to killer T cells. In doing so, we came across the special abilities of the so-called helper T cells, says Prof. Dr. Thomas Tüting, Professor of Dermatology at the University Hospital Magdeburg and leader of the study team.
Researchers have found an unusual process that allows the immune system to also remove such invisible cancer cells. These discoveries provide fresh opportunities for the research and development of more effective immunotherapies for cancer. The findings are really fascinating in their own right!
But how were they able to accomplish it?
The researchers made use of an experimental cancer method to observe how a very modest number of helper T cells may destroy advanced malignancies just as successfully as a significantly greater number of killer T cells. In addition, the use of cutting-edge imaging methods to investigate immune cells present in real cancer tissue indicated that killer T cells and helper T cells exhibit fundamentally distinct patterns of behavior.
And now for something that’s truly out of the ordinary!
Further research found that helper T cells emit chemical mediators that draw ‘enemy’ cells of the immune system and persuade them to promote the killing of cancer cells on their behalf. These two different types of cells can definitely work together to mount an efficient defense against bacterial and viral illnesses. Together they can also be utilized to activate the whole array of immune defense mechanisms to combat cancer cells, which is another potential benefit.
Moreover, it was shown that the contact involving helper T cells and ‘enemy’ cells totally enhances the ability of both cell types to generate inflammatory mediators. And that will function as if they were infected by a disease and drive cancer cells to their death. Outstanding!
The findings of this research genuinely shed light on a potential method whereby the power of the body’s immune system to prevent the proliferation of infections within the body might be used for the purpose of eliminating cancer cells. Researchers in Magdeburg are now exploring novel tactics for cancer immunotherapy based on these discoveries. These new strategies are also successful in patients whose tumors have become undetectable to killer T cells.
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