Potential "master switch" could help immune system fight cancer
Immunotherapy is the new revolution in cancer treatment. As scientists discover new ways to adapt, or amplify, the body's natural defenses it opens the door to the development of better weapons to destroy tumors and kill cancers.
From article, (Immunotherapy is the new revolution in cancer treatment. As scientists discover new ways to adapt, or amplify, the body's natural defenses it opens the door to the development of better weapons to destroy tumors and kill cancers. With the potential to improve the effectiveness of such treatments, a new study has revealed insights into a possible "master switch" protein that directs immune cells to germs or cancers.
The research ended up homing in on a protein called Runx3. After animal model testing it was discovered that Runx3 seems to direct the T-cells to attack solid tumors, and when Runx3 was overexpressed the animals experienced delayed tumor growth and extended survival.
"Runx3 works on chromosomes inside killer T cells to program genes in way that enables the T cells to accumulate in a solid tumor," explains Matthew Pipkin, from Scripps. "If we enhance Runx3 activity in the cells, the tumors are significantly smaller and there is greater survival compared to the control group."
Pipkin suggests that this discovery could enhance the effectiveness of general adoptive cell transfer treatments, helping direct those engineered T-cells to find and kill the desired cancer cells.)
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