Tap cancer A patient’s “yin and yang” immunity may help increase their chances of survival, according to two new studies. It all comes down to an overlooked type of immune response.
Immunotherapy is a new cancer treatment based on fine-tuning a patient’s own defenses to more effectively fight their own betrayal cells. Although this tactic is promising, its effectiveness is not guaranteed.
Under investigation Why do some patients achieve long-term remission with this form of treatment, while others relapse? scientist They found that more successful cases showed signs of a secondary immune response.
Interestingly, this type of immune response was previously thought to work in the opposite direction and promote cancer growth.
in Follow-up surveyresearchers compared cancer immunotherapies in mice using single or dual immune responses. And sure enough, while 86% of the mice that received the combination treatment were cured of their cancer, none of the single-responding mice survived for more than a few weeks.
Even better, cured mice that were given new tumors 70 days after treatment were also successful in fighting off those tumors. This research could lead to new cancer immunotherapies that are more effective in humans.
Our immune system is a powerful weapon against cancer, but unfortunately, this disease is not always fair. Immunotherapy has the advantage of removing T cells from patients, enriching them with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to more effectively target specific cancers, and then returning them to the body. Designed to restore sexuality. this is called CAR-T cell therapy.
Generally, this type of immunotherapy is most effective against leukemia and other so-called immunotherapies. liquid cancer. Nevertheless, approximately half of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) relapse within 1 year after treatment.
A team led by EPFL researchers wanted to know: There was something special about the immune cells of patients who remained in remission for at least eight years after treatment.
They looked at extensive data from the first two clinical trial They tested CAR-T cell therapy for ALL and created a genetic atlas of nearly 700,000 CAR-T cells from 82 patients, revealing unexpected patterns unique to patients in long-term remission.
The immune system is some types of responses To fight pathogens. Type 1 typically targets intracellular threats such as bacteria. viruscan be used to treat cancer, making it a key tool in cancer immunotherapy.
However, these survivors had markers associated with type 2 immune responses, which typically target larger threats such as parasites. It is thought that the type 2 immune response is not only irrelevant to fighting cancer, but may even help cancer grow.
But now, statistically significant Correlation between long-term remission and type 2 immune factors.
This study is interesting, but researchers feel stressed that they only identified a correlation, not a cause-and-effect relationship.
on the other hand, second study We dug deeper into the underlying mechanisms. Here, the research team performed CAR-T cell immunotherapy using type 1 alone or type 1 and type 2 in combination on mice with colon adenocarcinoma. The latter group had a longer-lasting, modified version of the type 2 immunity protein.
The results mirrored the original study. Eighty-six percent of the mice that received the one-two punch were cured, but none of the mice with type 1 survived the cancer. Importantly, these mice have solid tumors and typically do not respond well to immunotherapy.
Upon closer inspection, the modified immune proteins appeared to promote a metabolic pathway known as glycolysis. This gives T cells a type of energy that reduces fatigue and may help them continue fighting cancer.
“Our results show that type 1 and type 2 immunity can be thought of in terms of synergy, like yin and yang.” Li Tan saysco-author of the study.
“Our study not only reveals the synergy between these two types of immune responses, but also provides an innovative strategy to advance next-generation cancer immunotherapies by integrating type 2 immune factors. will also be revealed.”
