Researchers uncover novel strategy to program immune system for fighting cancer

Looking to bolster the body's immune system in the fight against infection and cancer, researchers at the University of California San Diego and their colleagues have identified a promising new strategy to program the immune system to meet the pathogen or malignancy in the tissues where they first pose a threat.

A multidisciplinary team led by Justin Milner, a postdoctoral researcher in molecular biologist Ananda Goldrath's laboratory, uncovered a novel function for a protein known as "Runx3" that is key to the development of killer T cells--immune cells important for fighting infections and cancer. The researchers discovered similarities shared by T cells in infected tissues and tumors, and leveraged this finding to enhance killer T cell abundance in tumors, which was driven by Runx3.

Their study is published in the Dec. 14 edition of the journal Nature.

"At this time, we are seeing great promise in treating cancer stemming from approaches that exploit the immune system to target tumor cells and our work describes a new tool for directing the immune system into the right place where it can do its job," said Goldrath, the chair of the Section of Molecular Biology in the Division of Biological Sciences.

Runx3 has been known for its contributions to immune cell development but the researchers found a new therapeutic role for it. Their research in mice demonstrated Runx3 could program killer T cells to locate to and persist in infected tissues or tumors, helping to eradicate infections or slow growth of malignancies.

"We uncovered an unappreciated function for this molecule in setting up a frontline of defense in tissues throughout the body," said Goldrath. "It's really a repurposing of a protein used in development to regulate the functional properties of the immune system."

The researchers believe Runx3, if properly directed, could be combined with other approaches to help T cells recognize and destroy tumor cells and enhance vaccine efficacy.

Comments

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of News Medical.
Post a new comment
Post

While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for medical information you must always consult a medical professional before acting on any information provided.

Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles.

Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Read the full Terms & Conditions.

You might also like...
Novel bladder cancer treatment gains MHRA approval in the UK