Immunotherapy for cancer treatments involves facilitating the body’s immune system to suppress the growth of cancer cells. A recent discovery in this area unearthed a protein that might be assisting tumor cells with hiding from the immune system.
A Columbia University-led team of researchers discovered that tumors repurpose a single-cell protein, using it to hide tumor cells from the immune system. According to a February 2024 Medical Express article, drugs could potentially target this protein to significantly curb the growth of tumor cells while also making immunotherapy more effective. Cancer growth is characterized by genome instability, where mutations are created during cell division. This instability also results in sensors in the cell being triggered. The cells are then alerted that something is happening when genetic material leaks outside the nucleus and cytoplasm (area in the cell excluding the nucleus). This is important in cancer treatment because these processes can release chemokines (signaling proteins), attracting immune cells into the tumor. Ultimately, these immune cells would kill the tumor before it grows. Immunotherapy would be used in cases where cancers hide by activating an immune checkpoint response, which says there is nothing here to worry about to the body's immune system and then evades the immune system's initial response to stop the cancer. Immunotherapies would act as checkpoint inhibitors, subduing the cancer checkpoint response. Researchers are focusing on a couple of proteins, including SMARCAL1, which the February 2024 Medical Express article referred to as a one-molecule immune evasion system. Researchers state that therapies that use SMARCAL1 inhibitors to target SMARCAL1 can potentially boost innate immunity (the body’s ability to boost immune function) and prevent cancers from getting around the body’s immune system through immune checkpoints.
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AuthorNatasha Tiffany, MD, is a physician, educator, and research scientist currently working in Oregon. A Partner and Physician in a private practice located in the state’s capital city of Salem, Dr. Tiffany teaches at her alma mater, Oregon Health & Science University, where she is an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Hematology and Medical Oncology Division. Archives
October 2019
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