Blocking T-Cell Migration with Immunotherapy Slows Melanoma Growth

Source: Inside Precision Medicine, March 2023

New research shows that using a chemical blocker stops CD8+ T cells from migrating out of skin cancer cells. Together with immunotherapy, the combination stopped melanoma tumor growth in half of treated mice, representing a potential new approach for boosting the efficacy of immunotherapy.

In a paper in Nature Immunology, researchers from NYU showed that the treatment, prevented the escape of CD8+ T cells within melanoma tumors, effectively doubling the number available to fight the cancer. Antigen-specific CD8+ T cell accumulation in tumors is a prerequisite for effective immunotherapy.

“We have known that T-cells migrate out of tissues,” said senior author, Amanda Lund, PhD, associate professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Perlmutter Cancer Center. “But in the context of cancer, we haven’t understood the trafficking dynamics and how they impact the immune responses necessary for cancer therapy.” In this paper, her team revealed some of the important signals that draw T-cells out of tumors.
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