Tel Aviv University Researchers Identify Immune Process That May Fuel Cancer Growth
By The Media Line Staff
Researchers at Tel Aviv University’s Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences have identified a mechanism by which cancerous tumors can redirect a normal immune system process to support tumor growth, a discovery they say could lead to new treatment strategies that restore the immune system’s ability to fight cancer.
The study was led by Dr. Merav Cohen and doctoral students Roi Balaban and Ori Moskowitz and was published in the journal Science Immunology.
The research focused on macrophages, immune cells responsible for removing damaged and dead cells from the body. While this process normally helps maintain healthy tissue and prevent inflammation, the researchers found that within cancerous tumors it can instead change the behavior of the immune cells in ways that promote tumor development.
To investigate the process, the team developed a new technology called Effero-seq, which tracks changes in immune cells after they engulf dead cells. Using the method, the researchers found that macrophages that consumed dead cancer cells underwent what they described as “reprogramming,” activating genes associated with tumor growth.
The team used a melanoma model to examine the effects of the altered immune cells. They found that macrophages that had consumed dead cancer cells encouraged the formation of new blood vessels inside tumors. The additional blood vessels supplied tumors with oxygen and nutrients, allowing them to grow more rapidly. The researchers also found that these macrophages became less responsive to signals that normally trigger anti-cancer immune activity.
The researchers expanded the study by analyzing data from patients with uveal melanoma, a form of eye cancer. They found that patients whose tumors showed higher expression of immune cells carrying the genetic signature identified in the study generally had lower survival rates.
According to Dr. Cohen, the findings offer new insight into how tumors influence the immune system to support their own growth.
“The better we understand these mechanisms, the better equipped we will be to develop treatments that block them and restore the immune system’s ability to fight cancer,” she says. “This research points to a new and promising therapeutic target, one that focuses not only on the cancer cells themselves, but also on the processes that enable them to thrive.”
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