Nat Immunol: How to enhance the body's immune memory to reduce the rate of cancer recurrence? Scientists come up with new ideas!

July 19, 2020 // In a recent study published in the international journal Nature Universal, scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and others found that blocking the "immune memory checkpoint" identified in immune cells may improve immunotherapy and help prevent cancer recurrencePhoto Source: University of Cambridge's immunotherapy drugs, which regulate the body's immune system against cancer, have revolutionized the treatment of many cancers by blocking checkpoint-suppressing proteins such as PD1, removing the brakes on cancer-killing T-cells in the immune system, but only about a third of patients respond to these drugsResearcher Dario A.AVignali says there is still a lot of work we need to do to improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy, because only a small percentage of patients benefit, and even some of these patients will have a recurrence of the diseaseIn the study, researchers revealed a new and important biological anti-tumor mechanism that they could use to provide a long-lasting, long-lasting immune response to tumorsThe researchers found that a protein called NRP1 (Neuropilin-1, Neuropilin-1) plays a key role in suppressing the body's immune response to cancer, and we all know that NRP1 exists on the surface of other T cells, but the researchers want to know if NRP1 can alter the function of killer T cells, which may function similar to any other immune checkpoint molecule that inhibits growth by blocking the expression of NRP1In the article, the researchers developed a genetically modified mouse that was only rejected by NRP1 on the surface of the killer T cells, and when transplanting tumor cells into mouse models, the researchers hope that tumors in these mice do not grow or grow slowly compared to normal animals, as observed when blocking other checkpoint proteins, but the results were reversed, and the researchers did not observe any changesRemoving NRP1 doesn't seem to affect the body's anti-tumor immunity, so does NRP1 change the body's ability to remember tumors, said liu, a researcherThe researchers then removed the tumor and then transplanted the cancer cells again at a different site in the mouse body to simulate the recurrence of cancer in tumor patients after surgery, and they saw dramatic results, with mice genetically removing NRP1 from the body's killer T cells having a better protective effect on secondary tumors than normal mice, and could also produce a more aggressive response to PD1 immunotherapySubsequently, the researchers further found that neuropilin (neuropilin) may control the fate of T-cell development and build immune memory in the body, with NRP1 can promote the depletion of lethal T cells, and can not effectively resist cancer cells, especially play a long-term resistance effect, and the removal of NRP1 will promote T-cells to increase their immune memory, when again encountered tumors, the body will produce a stronger immune responseThese studies in mouse organisms or associated with studies of T cells isolated in the blood from skin cancer or head and neck cancer patients tend to express high levels of NRP1 in memory-killing T-cells in patients with advanced head and neck cancer, and in patients with advanced skin cancer who received multiple immunotherapy, high levels of NRP1 on killer T cells were often directly associated with poor response to therapy and lower levels of memory T cellsResearcher Vignali said that in this study we have a new understanding of how to control anti-tumor immunity, which may provide new treatment opportunities and ideas for promoting and enhancing long-lasting anti-tumor responses in cancer patients later in lifeFinally, the researchers say that drugs that target NRP1 are being used clinically in combination with anti-PD1 immunotherapy, and these clinical trials will reveal the key role of immune memory in fighting cancerLater researchers will continue to delve into new ways to reduce cancer recurrence by enhancing the host body's immune memoryOriginal origins: Liu, C., Somasundaram, A., Manne, Set alNeuropilin-1 is a T cell memory checkpoint limiting long-term antimithitumor Nat Immunol (2020) doi: 10.1038/s41590-020-0733-2.