Science Advances: Massachusetts General Hospital discovers the regulation mechanism of natural killer (NK) cell function, bringing new opportunities for the treatment of cancer, autoimmunity and other diseases

According to the data released by the China Anti-Cancer Association: China ranks first in the world in terms of incidence and mortality of cancer.

Main points of the article:

Collagen and elastin in the extracellular matrix form the scaffolding that supports the organs, causing the immune system's natural killer (NK) cells to shut down their "killing" function

The high blood pressure drug losartan sensitized previously drug-resistant melanomas to natural killer cells by blocking collagen deposition in the tumors

A new study from Massachusetts General Hospital reveals the interaction between affecting natural killer (NK) cells -- which are part of the body's innate or first-line immune response -- and tumor cells, viral infections and solid organ transplantation.

Pictured, NK cells (green) are embedded in the collagen-rich (red) skin matrix, inhibiting them to directly kill epidermal keratinocytes (yellow)

NK cells can effectively kill target cells in the blood, but they cannot kill infected cancer cells in tissues and organs such as the skin, gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, and breast

Organs are composed of cells embedded in a dense extracellular matrix (ECM), a delicate protein matrix that forms a scaffold to maintain organ structure and integrity

Dr.

Demehri and his team speculate that the rapid killing response of NK cells in the blood and their delayed helper responses in tissues and organs are the result of natural selection in human evolution

In this latest study, involving skin grafts and a mouse model of melanoma, the researchers found that collagen and elastin -- proteins that make up the major abundance of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in solid organs -- are critical for tissue and solid tumors A key regulator of NK cell function in

"Our fundamental findings on how NK cells are regulated in peripheral tissues have broad implications for patients with a variety of health conditions," said co-first author Maulik Vyas, a postdoc in the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Immunology Center

For example, the scientists showed for the first time that losartan, a drug commonly used to treat high blood pressure, can sensitize previously drug-resistant melanomas to NK cell killing by blocking collagen deposition in tumors

Dr.

About Massachusetts General Hospital

Founded in 1811, Massachusetts General Hospital is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School

Original source:

Katie Marquedant.