They found a switch that causes the body to attack cancer

When searching cancer treatmentrole immune system This is very important. The body itself can use its defenses to fight tumor cells on its own, but it can also be stimulated with drugs to do this more effectively. The problem is that there is a type of tumor known as cold immune tumorswhich remain undetected by the immune system and can multiply unhindered. To try to solve this problem, a group of scientists from Johns Hopkins University studied the opposite case, namely hot tumors. So they found the switch that activates the immune attack and looked for a way to direct it to cold tumors. Yes, for now ONLY IN MICE.

His discovery is very interesting because, if it can be extrapolated to humans, it will be the first step towards cancer treatment based on immunotherapy. The tumor’s barriers will be removed, and now, completely unprotected, it will be attacked by the entire immune arsenal.

During the study, these switches were tested with tumors of the breast, pancreas and muscles; but again, it’s important to emphasize that they only did this in mice. There is still a lot of research ahead.

How did they find the immune switch for hot tumors?

The big difference between cold and hot tumors is TLS. This groups of T- and B-lymphocytes which act by coordinating the immune response in areas of chronic inflammationfor example, a tumor. Let’s imagine that we have a forest in which a person is lost and there are many volunteers who want to help, but the reality is that they do not know how. TLS is a security force team that goes into the area to coordinate the search. Without them, volunteers might have wandered through the forest, but they would have been unlikely to have found the missing person.

TLS are highly present in hot tumors but not in cold ones. Therefore, these scientists analyzed the signals associated with various proteins in a group of mice affected by hot tumors and compared them with the signals of mice with cold tumors. It was clear that there was two immunostimulant molecules which serve as a signal for the synthesis of two proteins that trigger the entire organization of the immune system.

When they used these molecules on mice with cold tumors, the picture completely changed.

The authorities managed to organize an immune response

After using two molecules of immunostimulants, a large amount TCD8+ lymphocytesresponsible for suppress tumor growth. Moreover, they have grown new endothelial venulesblood vessels that serve pathway for immune system cells to enter the tumor. The barriers were already open.

Large quantity T and B lymphocytes They entered the tumor, acting as TLS and orchestrating the entire immune response. B cells have transformed into plasma cells, whose role is to synthesize specific antibodies. This also happens when we encounter any pathogenic agent. Antibodies are generated that specialize in attacking that particular agent. In this case, your specialty attack tumor cells. Moreover, later they appeared memory cellscapable of generating specific antibodies much faster if the tumor appears again. This is the way we often protect ourselves from illness after we have already experienced it. This is also the route used by vaccines. And in this case this is the way avoid tumor recurrence.

TLS also helped recruit both CD4+ T lymphocyteswhose role is to activate B lymphocytes, such as more CD8+ T lymphocytes. With all this, the wheel of immunity begins to rotate, and the protective reaction becomes more and more powerful.

Everything is ready for cancer treatment

Activation of TLS in cold tumors is not only beneficial for the mouse immune system when attacking the tumor. This also leaves tumor cells at the mercy of cancer treatments based on immunotherapy. If this can be replicated in humans, we will have a very powerful weapon in the fight against these terrible diseases. And the plural is important here because There is more than one cancer. There are many of them, so to confront them you will need as many weapons as possible. Some will be more effective against some and others will be more effective against others. This would be an excellent addition to the antitumor arsenal.