Unexpected Findings in Study of T Cells Considered Front-Line Fighters Against Advanced Melanoma
Source: News Wise, December 2024
Newswise — Yale researchers made an unexpected discovery—turncoat T cells that help a tumor evade other cancer-fighting immune T cells—in a study of patients living with advanced melanoma that was published Nov. 28 in Nature Immunology.
The study by Yale Cancer Center (YCC) researchers at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) discovered that not all CD8+ T cells are allies in a body’s fight against cancer cells. In a new study, patients living with severe melanoma who had increased levels of suppressor, regulatory CD8+ T cells had worse survival outcomes. The study’s results were published in Nature Immunology on November 28.
CD8+ regulatory T cells show alternative function, attacking other T cells fighting melanoma
“In some patients with melanoma, these CD8+ regulatory T cells are fighting against our own immune response and attack other T cells fighting the tumors —it’s an alternative function, besides killing the cancer cells,” said first author, Dr. Benjamin Lu, a YCC medical oncologist in YSM’s Department of Neurology. He says these unexpected results are clinically important to help better understand how to treat these patients living with melanoma and potentially other cancers.