
via Doherty Institute
Australian scientists have discovered how the immune system can control melanoma, a mechanism which could be used to enhance cancer treatments.
Published today in Nature, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) and Telethon Kids Institute researchers investigated the role of a particular immune cell, tissue-resident memory T (TRM) cells, in controlling melanoma.
TRM cells were able to control the tumour in the mice for the life of the animal, which is likely to equate to decades of protection in humans.
University of Melbourne PhD student, Simone Park from the Doherty Institute, created an imaging model to study TRM cells’ and melanoma in a mouse model.
“Using a special microscope, we could see individual melanoma cells sitting in the skin of the mouse, and could watch the T cells move through the skin, find the melanoma cells and control the growth of those cells,” Ms Park explained.
One of the main issues for cancer patients is that there is always a risk that the tumour can come back years later, after surgery or chemotherapy.
Previous research has shown that small numbers of cancer cells persist in the body after treatment and that the immune system probably keeps the cancer cells under control but this study in mice could study the immune system directly. This is work that could never be done in people.
“I was able to see through moving images that these TRM cells are important for maintaining the control of the tumour cells; if you remove the TRM cells you have a break in that control and the cancer can start to grow back again,” Ms Park said.
“If you could make more of these TRM cells through immunotherapies, or enhance the activity of those that are already there in some way, you could boost anti-tumour immunity.”
Senior author on the paper, University of Melbourne Associate Professor Thomas Gebhardt, Laboratory Head at the Doherty Institute, said an increase of TRM cells has already been associated with better outcomes in cancer patients, but the way they work to suppress tumours has remained unknown.
“The principal of cutting-edge immunotherapies currently in clinical practise is that they generate a T-cell response. But if we can hone in on one type of T-cell – the TRM cells specifically, we could have an even bigger impact on stopping cancers from coming back,” Associate Professor Gebhardt said.
“We now have a much better understanding of which T-cells are important in controlling skin cancers and how those cells are working but there is still much more work to do to make these cells work even better,” Associate Professor Gebhardt said.
The Latest on: Melanoma
via Google News
The Latest on: Melanoma
- Study investigates the metabolites involved in the growth and spread of melanomaon January 12, 2021 at 6:19 pm
The first step in treating cancer is understanding how it starts, grows and spreads throughout the body. A relatively new cancer research approach is the study of metabolites, the products of ...
- DermTech Announces Inclusion of Non-Invasive Genomic Patch Testing in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN) Cutaneous Melanoma Guidelineson January 12, 2021 at 6:01 pm
DermTech, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMTK) (“DermTech”), a leader in precision dermatology enabled by a non-invasive skin genomics platform, announced today that n ...
- New humanized mouse model provides insight into immunotherapy resistanceon January 12, 2021 at 10:58 am
Scientists have created an advanced humanized immune system mouse model that allows them to examine resistance to immune checkpoint blockade therapies in melanoma. It has revealed a central role for ...
- Research explores how melanoma grows and spreadson January 12, 2021 at 8:45 am
The first step in treating cancer is understanding how it starts, grows and spreads throughout the body. A relatively new cancer research approach is the study of metabolites, the products of ...
- Texas A&M research explores how melanoma grows and spreadson January 12, 2021 at 7:51 am
The first step in treating cancer is understanding how it starts, grows and spreads throughout the body. A relatively new cancer research approach is the study of metabolites, the products of ...
- Advanced humanized mouse model helps better understand immunotherapy resistance in melanomaon January 12, 2021 at 4:56 am
Scientists at The Wistar Institute have created an advanced humanized immune system mouse model that allows them to examine resistance to immune checkpoint blockade therapies in melanoma. It has ...
- Immunocore announces closing of $75.0 Million Series C roundon January 12, 2021 at 1:46 am
ROCKVILLE, Md., US, 11 January 2021) Immunocore, a late-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of a novel class of T cell receptor (TCR) bispecific immunotherapies designed to treat a ...
- Istari Oncology Announces FDA Grants Orphan Drug Designation for PVSRIPO for the Treatment of Advanced Melanomaon January 11, 2021 at 5:00 am
Istari Oncology, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation for PVSRIPO for the treatment of ...
- OncoSec Announces First Patient Dosed in Phase 2 Trial of TAVO™ Plus OPDIVO® as Neoadjuvant Therapy for Melanomaon January 8, 2021 at 6:00 am
PRNewswire/ -- OncoSec Medical Incorporated (NASDAQ:ONCS) (the "Company" or "OncoSec") today announced the first patient was dosed in OMS-104, ...
- An epidemic of overdiagnosis: Melanoma diagnoses skyrocketon January 6, 2021 at 2:21 pm
In a Sounding Board article published in The New England Journal of Medicine, H. Gilbert Welch MD, MPH, Senior Investigator, Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital and ...
via Bing News