How the tumor hides from the immune system

The elusiveness of cancer cells was associated with the "silence" of cytokine

Denis Strigun, Naked Science

Experts from the University of British Columbia have discovered a new mechanism that prevents the recognition of carcinoma cells by the immune system. The results of the work are presented in the journal Scientific Reports (Saranchova et al., Discovery of a Metastatic Immune Escape Mechanism Initiated by the Loss of Expression of the Tumour Biomarker Interleukin-33).

Carcinoma (cancer) is a type of malignant tumor that develops from the epithelial tissue of various organs. Carcinomas include breast cancer, lung cancer, uterine cancer, skin cancer and others. Tumor therapy is complicated by difficulties in recognizing cancer cells by T-lymphocytes – white blood cells involved in providing an immune response. As a result, tumors, including metastatic ones, are "invisible" to the immune system.

In 2015, immunologists from Germany presented the results of a study in which T-lymphocytes were modified for more effective recognition of tumors. In particular, the modified immune cells showed the ability to identify the MAGE-A1 antigen characteristic of cancer cells. The results of similar work were later announced by American scientists. They proposed the protein WTI1 as a universal identifier of tumors.

In a new paper, researchers from Canada analyzed data from patients with prostate or kidney cancer. The results showed that in the case of participants with a deficiency of interleukin 33 (IL-33) in their body, the risk of relapse of the disease over the next five years is higher than with a preserved cytokine index. At the same time, the impaired production of IL-33 makes the immune system unable to recognize tumors.

The introduction of cytokine into epithelial tissues restored this ability. It is also noted that IL-33 deficiency is the first possible biomarker for prostate cancer. Scientists intend to continue working in this direction.

IL-33 is an immune–regulating cytokine, the level of which correlates with inflammatory processes in tissues. In particular, IL-33 regulates the activity of T-helper 2 (Th2) activating B-lymphocytes. Earlier, Hong Kong scientists also demonstrated the connection of IL-33 with Alzheimer's disease.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  04.10.2016