Dendritic cells against metastases

Scientists have defeated the resistance of intestinal tumors to immunotherapy

Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+

Researchers from Harvard and the University of Geneva have found that the environment in which cancer cells develop affects the effectiveness of immunotherapy. In the first stage of the experiments, the team injected colorectal cancer cells under the skin of mice to make sure that the environment was a key factor in resistance.

The expectations were met — the cells responded well to immunotherapy. Then the scientists simulated real conditions and injected cells into the intestine and liver, where the first metastases of colorectal cancer usually appear. Now rodent tumors have proven to be extremely resistant to treatment. It is known that exactly the same situation is observed in patients with colorectal cancer.

Then scientists began to analyze the composition of immune cells in the focal tumor in the intestine and in liver metastases and found that the liver lacks dendritic cells necessary for the activation of T-lymphocytes to fight cancer. The conclusions were confirmed after analyzing human cell samples.

Experimental treatment aimed at increasing the number of dendritic cells in liver metastases using the growth factor Flt3L increased the number of T-lymphocytes and made the tumor sensitive to immunotherapy.

"The combination of this approach with immunotherapy may become a promising method of treating colorectal cancer," the authors said. They are currently carrying out additional work that will allow launching further clinical trials.

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