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June 29 (UPI) – A new study published this week in Immunity could change the way oncologists tailor treatments to a patient's specific tumor type.
A team of scientists at the Penn Abramson Cancer Center why tumors with more T cells, or cells that play a vital role in the immune response, are more sensitive to immunotherapy than those with less T cells that have more of these cells are known as "hot" tumors and those that have less are "cold".
The researchers examined the role of "tumor heterogeneity," the ability of cancer cells to move, replicate, and metastasize. respond to treatment. They found that the fact that a tumor is hot or cold is determined by the information contained in the cancer cells themselves.
Recent discoveries by Penn Medicine and other institutions have suggested that T cells are attracted to a tumor. tumor. In simpler terms, they found that the immunity of the tumor is controlled by factors specific to individual cancer cells.
"It is indisputable that targeting immune cells has yielded promising results for many cancer patients, but not all Ben Stanger, the main author of this book, professor of gastroenterology and cell and developmental biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a press release. "Each tumor is different, so we are studying how to use the underlying biology of tumor cells to successfully treat more cancer patients."
The results would mean adapting a patient's treatment to best kill the cancer cells. To develop, tumors must avoid the immune system, which occurs in two ways: by developing as a cold tumor with a limited number of T cells, or as a hot tumor by depleting T cells, effectively protecting tumor cells of destruction by an immune system of the patient.
For the study, scientists implanted cancer cells in mice. The cells developed into hot or cold tumors, cold tumors being the dominant type. They found that if a tumor was hot or cold determined whether it would respond to immunotherapy.
Hot tumors narrowed in half of the mice when a checkpoint blocking drug was used. The effect has been improved with an anti-CD40 agonist, combined chemotherapy or both. Of the 26 mice on which these methods were used, 20 survived more than six months. This suggests a lasting response to the therapy.
None of the mice with cold tumors removed their cancer after this therapy.
The results gave scientists a clearer picture of the characteristics of pancreatic tumors, including the types of cells that they contain. In the future, these cell lines could help identify and optimize therapies for specific patients.
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