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The use of the gene responsible for hair loss could help improve cancer immunotherapy.
A study conducted by researchers at the Irving Medical Center at Columbia University confirmed this possibility.
"While immunotherapies have been shown to be very promising in cancer, most patients do not benefit from these treatments because their tumors are able to escape the immune system," said lead researcher Angela Mr Christiano. around this hurdle is to exploit the genes that cause the recruitment of T cells in autoimmune diseases and use them to attract T cells to kill tumors.In this study, we showed that a gene that recruits T cells in alopecia. The cells attack and destroy the hair cells – they are deactivated in various types of cancer, which protects them from the immune system. But if we reactivate this gene, we can make these cancers vulnerable to the immune response, "he added. The study began with the recognition that autoimmune diseases and cancer represent the opposite ends of the immune signaling spectrum.
When the immune system is overactive, a patient may be at risk for autoimmune disease when underactive, cancer can escape the immune system and progress
"We should be able to identify hyperactive genetic cues in autoimmune diseases, then exploit these signals in tumors that have developed a way to Avoid the immune response, "said another researcher, James Chen.
In a previous study, researchers identified a sign Genetics, which is a gene called IKZF1- in alopecia areata
In this condition, an overactive IKZF1 gene leads to overproduction of immune cells, killing hair follicles.
The key immune cells in alopecia areata are the same cells that many cancers can escape, but killer T cells are crucial for the success of cancer immunotherapies.
In this study, researchers investigated whether they could activate IKZF1 in tumor cells in order to attract T cells to tumors, mobilizing them to attack cancer.
"We were particularly struck by the fact that tumors expressing IKZF1 responded significantly better to anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 treatment and tumor growth was almost completely suppressed," said another researcher, Charles G. Drake.
The team badyzed data from a previous study on patients with melanoma with IKZF1 disability.
Clinically, this discovery is particularly exciting because prostate cancer is generally poorly infiltrated by immune cells. Turning these "cold" tumors could be a key to therapeutic success, "says Drake
The study appears in the journal Cell Systems
(This story was not published by the staff of Business Standard and is self-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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