How to activate the antitumor activity of T-lymphocytes

Cytotoxic T-lymphocytes are responsible for the fight against malignant tumors in the body, but they do not always manage to completely destroy the tumor due to the deactivating effect of another population of T cells - regulatory T-lymphocytes.

Earlier attempts to get rid of these regulatory cells, as a rule, ended in failure – partly due to the fact that their similarity to cytotoxic T-lymphocytes makes it difficult to selectively remove one population while preserving the second.

Milan scientists were able to overcome this problem by affecting the protein of the cell surface OX40. According to the results of earlier work on cell cultures, this protein suppresses the activity of regulatory T-lymphocytes, but activates cytotoxic T-cells. In experiments on mice, the authors demonstrated that activation of this protein leads to the destruction of existing tumors and prevents the formation of new ones.

A potential side effect of this approach is that selective suppression of the activity of regulatory T-lymphocytes can provoke autoimmune reactions – damage to the body's tissues by its own cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. However, during the work, no manifestations of autoimmune reactions were observed in experimental animals, which indicates that OX40 is a promising target of antitumor therapy.

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of ScienceDaily

27.03.2008