Nature: heavyweight! It was found that there were stem cell like T cells in the tumor

December 19, 2019 / Biovalley BIOON / - -- in a new study, researchers from Emory University and other research institutions in the United States found that the immune system has established a "front-line battle base" or lymph node like structure in the tumor of some patients with renal cancer and other urinary system cancers Patients with well supported immune cells in tumors are more likely to control cancer growth in their bodies for a longer period of time This finding may guide the treatment decisions of renal cancer patients after surgery In addition, ongoing research has found that this observation is widely applicable to many types of cancer, and may help researchers extend the benefits of cancer immunotherapy to more people The related research results were recently published in the journal Nature, and the title of the paper is "an intra clinical maintains and differentiates stem like CD8 T cells" Nature, 2019, doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1836-5。 "We know that patients may respond better to cancer immunotherapy if there are more T cells in the tumor," said Dr Haydn kissing, co-author of the paper and assistant professor of Urology and Microbiology and immunology at Emory University School of medicine But we're looking at a more fundamental question: why do some tumors have a lot of T cells, while others don't? " In collaboration with surgeons and oncologists at the University of Emory's Winship Cancer Institute, kislick lab studied tumor samples taken from patients with kidney, prostate and bladder cancer CD8 T cells search for and kill invaders, such as cancer cells In patients with high levels of CD8 T cells in tumors, when a small number of cancer cells (micrometastasis) may lurk in other parts of the body, their immune system seems to be better trained to inhibit cancer growth after surgery Patients with low levels of CD8 T cells tend to develop cancer four times faster after surgery than those with high levels of CD8 T cells Dr Viraj master, co-author of the paper, has carried out many kidney cancer operations before He said the finding was significant, in which case no other treatment would be given unless or until kidney cancer returned "Even after surgery for potentially curable kidney cancer, most patients will relapse," he said But with this information, we may be more confident in predicting that some patients will not need other treatments in order to avoid over treatment For others with a higher risk of recurrence, we can perform adjuvant therapy quickly or scan more frequently " Dr Howard Soule, executive vice president and chief scientific officer of the prostate cancer foundation, which funded the new study, said: "in some cancers, immunotherapy is so effective that the immune system can control cancer growth, but for other cancers such as prostate cancer, even if treated, it infiltrates into the tumor The T cells inside become increasingly depleted and ineffective In response to this situation, this study provides new insights and may provide a new way to develop more effective immunotherapy " Surprisingly, kissing and his colleagues found stem like CD8 T cells in tumor samples, or precursors of failing CD8 T cells Cancer immunotherapy drugs are a kind of drugs that activate the immune system to fight against cancer Stem cell like CD8 T cells are T cells that proliferate in response to these drugs "Lymph nodes are like the base of stem cell-like CD8 T cells," said Dr Carey Jansen, the first author of the paper We had expected stem cell like CD8 T cells to stay in lymphoid tissue and deploy other T cells to infiltrate and fight cancer But the opposite is true: the immune system seems to have established a front-line base inside the tumor " The researchers found that immune cells known as "antigen presenting cells" (APCs), which are usually found in lymph nodes, can also be seen in tumors APC helps T cells determine when and where to attack Like high levels of CD8 T cells, high levels of APC in tumors are also a predictor of longer progression free survival in renal cancer patients APC and stem cell-like CD8 T cells usually co-exist in the same tumor "nest" in a way similar to their interaction in lymph nodes This relationship is evident in kidney, prostate and bladder cancer samples "The question of how stem cell like CD8 T cells get into tumors has not yet been answered, but we do believe that APC supports these stem cell like CD8 T cells and is essential for their maintenance," kislick said Since stem cell like CD8 T cells are T cells that respond to cancer immunotherapy drugs, it may be valuable to focus on the relationship between APC and these T cells in the tumor " (BIOON Com) reference: 1 Caroline S Jansen et al An internal clinic maintenances and differentiates stem like CD8 T cells Nature, 2019, doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1836-5 2.Immune outposts inside kidney tumors predict post-surgery outcomes https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-12-immune-outposts-kidney-tumors-post-surgery.html