A multidisciplinary group of researchers at Magdeburg’s Otto-von-Guericke University has discovered a new method by which inflammatory mediators of pathogen defense can remotely kill cancer cells, making a significant contribution to the development of better cancer immunotherapies.
Immunotherapies today strengthen the body’s own cancer defenses. They activate the immune system’s killer T cells, which are capable of specifically recognizing and eliminating cancer cells. However, in many patients, cancer cells change and become inaccessible to killer T cells, rendering the treatment ineffective. A new mechanism that enables the immune system to also eliminate such invisible cancer cells has been discovered by a Magdeburg-based multidisciplinary team of researchers. Improved cancer immunotherapies could be developed in new ways thanks to these findings. The findings were recently published in Nature.
“We have been looking for ways to target cancer cells that are “invisible” to killer T cells in our research.” In doing so, we discovered the unique capabilities of the so-called helper T cells,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas Tüting, leader of the study team and professor of dermatology at the University Hospital Magdeburg.
“In our research, we’ve been looking for ways to target cancer cells that are ‘invisible’ to killer T cells. In doing so, we discovered the unique skills of so-called helper T cells.”
Prof. Dr. Thomas Tüting, Professor of Dermatology at the University Hospital Magdeburg .
Using an experimental cancer model, the researchers discovered that a relatively small number of helper T cells can eradicate advanced cancers as effectively as a significantly larger number of killer T cells. Additionally, the helper T cells were able to eliminate cancer cells that the killer T cells could no longer see.
Studying immune cells in living cancer tissue with cutting-edge microscopy techniques revealed that helper T cells behave fundamentally differently from killer T cells. According to Prof. Dr. Andreas Müller of the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Immunology at the University of Magdeburg, “helper T cells are primarily found at the edge of cancer tissues, where they exchange signals with other immune cells.” Killer T cells penetrate cancer tissues and interact directly with cancer cells.
Scavenger cells are influenced to support the destruction of cancer cells on behalf of helper T cells, as further research showed that helper T cells secrete chemical mediators that attract scavenger cells of the immune system. These two types of cells can effectively combat viral and bacterial infections when used together. Their collaboration can likewise be taken advantage of to prepare the full arms stockpile of insusceptible safeguard against malignant growth cells.
The researchers found that helper T cells and scavenger cells interact to make them better able to release inflammatory mediators that remotely cause cancer cells to die like they were infected with a pathogen in order to find the underlying mechanisms of action. The significance of this mechanism for cancer immunotherapies will need to be clarified due to the fact that the exact mechanism by which it occurs remains a mystery.
The findings of the study point to a way in which the body’s immune system’s capacity to prevent the spread of pathogens can be used to kill cancer cells. In light of these discoveries, the specialists in Magdeburg are developing new procedures for malignant growth immunotherapy that are likewise compelling in patients with diseases that have become imperceptible to executioner Lymphocytes.
More information: Bastian Kruse et al, CD4+ T cell-induced inflammatory cell death controls immune-evasive tumours, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06199-x
