Cancer Immunotherapy May Improve with Identification of New Mutations

Source: Genengnews.com, February 2016

The primary goal of cancer immunotherapy is to stimulate the human immune system to identify and destroy developing tumors. However, forcing immune cells to recognize tissues as foreign is proving to be much more difficult than researchers had hoped. However, a team of scientists at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin has identified immunogenic mutations in T cell receptors that occur naturally in human melanoma.

Though T cells typically migrate into tumors and potentially can recognize their antigens, the defense mechanism often seems to fail during the formation of tumors. T cells in the tumors are usually inactive and therapeutically almost useless.

“It is possible to obtain fresh T cells from a patient’s blood and transfer tumor-specific T cell receptors into them," explains lead study author Matthias Leisegang, Ph.D., group leader at MDC. “The transfer of the T cell receptor is carried out using genetically modified and functionally inactivated viruses that can insert their genetic material into millions of T cells. When these modified cells are infused into the patient, they are able to fight the tumor."