Researchers in Korea have uncovered the potential of candidates to effectively treat brain tumors.
The National Research Foundation of Korea announced on the 16th that Professor Heung-gyu Lee’s research team at KAIST revealed that the decrease in vitality of gamma delta T cells, which is an immune cell, occurs because brain tumor cells rapidly eat up surrounding oxygen. According to this study, the method of blocking the influx of oxygen into brain tumor cells is expected to attract attention as a way to complement the immunotherapy using gamma delta T cells, which has been less effective.
Gamma delta T cells are congenital T cells that mainly exist in mucous membranes such as the skin and intestines. Since there is a receptor that directly recognizes ligands (substances that bind to large molecules such as receptors) that occur a lot on the surface of brain tumor cells, it has attracted new attention as a subject to trigger an immune response against tumors. However, until now, the method using these cells has not been as effective as expected.
The research team found that the higher the malignancy of the brain tumor, the lower the vitality of gamma delta T cells and the more severe hypoxia. The prognosis of patients with high influx of gamma delta T cells was found to be good.
The research team hypothesized that if adequate oxygen was supplied to gamma delta T cells by dissolving the hypoxic environment, vitality could be greatly increased. An experiment was conducted using mice with brain tumors. When a compound that blocks excessive oxygen metabolism in brain tumors was administered to mice with gamma delta T cells, immune cells penetrated the tumor tissue and increased the survival rate. When the hypoxic environment of gamma delta T cells was resolved, the immune response against tumors improved.
With this research, the development of anti-brain tumor immune cell therapy using gamma delta T cells is expected to become active. Prof. Lee Heung-gyu said, “This study proved that the treatment using gamma delta T cells can be sufficiently effective,” he said. “It will be necessary to study whether it will be effective for humans, but it is of great significance because we have derived a new drug candidate. There is” he said.
The research was carried out with the support of the biomedical technology development project promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Research Foundation, and the Samsung Future Technology Promotion Foundation. The research results were published on the 11th of’Nature Immunology’, an international journal in the field of immunology.
Reporter Choi Han-jong [email protected]
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