Discovering why immune system fails to spot cancer
There is new evidence of a genetic programme that some cancers may be using to disguise themselves from the immune system
Researchers have discovered a precarious method that some cancers use to hide themselves in plain sight of the immune system. The findings reveal a new immunotherapy target and provide an explanation behind the immune system’s failure to detect cancers. Though the body’s natural tumour surveillance programme should be able to identify and fight cancer cells when they develop in tissues, cancer cells still thrive when these defense systems fail to do their job, explained researchers.
Evidence of such a genetic programme was found across 30 peripheral tissue cancers, including melanoma skin cancer. “The genetic programme we report on helps the immune system balance itself. Parts of this programme prevent the immune system from destroying healthy organs or tissues, but might also leave a blind spot in detecting and fighting cancer,” said researcher Niroshana Anandasabapathy, MD, PhD, at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Department of Dermatology to Medical News Today.
The researchers focused on a group of distinct cells, called immune mononuclear phagocytes, that act as “Pac-Men” of the immune system by detecting and engulfing the components of foreign invaders and dying normal tissues. The study also detected that immune mononuclear phagocytes found in peripheral tissues, like the gut and liver, shared a common set of genetic programmes that follows an “instructive cue” from a molecule for regulating immunity. The authors believe that such genetic programmes can become potential biomarkers for cancer survival and detect key molecules that may help the immune system but, in turn, also create a blind spot in cancer detection.
For example, one of the key genes detected in the research - suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (SOCS2) - was able to stimulate the immune system of a mouse model to detect and reject certain cancers when it was turned off. “Our research suggests that these cancers are co-opting tissue-specific immune development to escape detection, but we see that by turning off SOCS2 we can unmask them,” explained Anandasabapathy.
This story was originally published in the Global Health and Travel issue of October 2017
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