“Helper” T-cells pack more of a punch against tumors than first thought
Source: Biotechniques, January 2024
CD4+ T-cells, primarily considered to play a supportive role in the anti-tumor immune response, have been seen to actively kill cancer cells in a mouse model of melanoma.
A recent study by a team at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Melbourne, Australia), has revealed new insights into the role of CD4+ T-cells in anti-cancer immunity, using mouse models of melanoma and a series of imaging experiments. These findings reveal that CD4+ T-cells are more potent than previously thought in the tumor microenvironment, promoting the potential of their therapeutic use in the fight against cancers.
Melanoma is the 17th most common cancer globally, with 150,000 people newly diagnosed with the condition in 2020. So far, it has proved partially susceptible to the expanding range of immunotherapeutic treatments that have been emergent in the last few decades. However, cell-based immunotherapies such as CAR-T, which currently struggle in the treatment of solid tumors, have yet to be approved for the treatment of melanoma.