Findings of a new study may aid in development of immunotherapies for solid tumors. The study, titled "Tumour ischaemia by interferon-γ resembles physiological blood vessel regression," is published online 26 April 2017 in Nature. Immumotherapy, or called biological therapy, is a type of treatment that utilizes the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. Compared with chemotherapy drugs, immunotherapy regiments generally have fewer short-term side effects. Immunotherapies based on T cells are effective against certain cancers, such as blood cancer. However, in the treatment of solid tumors, the therapeutic effects of T cell therapies are limited. A better understanding of why solid tumors do not respond well to T cell therapies would lead to new, more effective immunotherapies for solid tumors. The study, led by Professor Thomas Blankensteinclose at Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, demonstrates that the cytokine IFN-γ, which is produced by T cells, helps reduce the blood supply to tumors. Our immune system struggles to eliminate tumors. Part of the immune system, T cells play an important role in the fight against cancer. T cells produce both TNF and IFN-γ. IFN-γ attacks cancer cells via the tumor microenvironment, but the precise working mechanism of IFN-γ remains unknown. To determine which cells are targeted by IFN-γ, Professor Blankensteinclose and the team created a mouse tumor model in which the IFNγ receptor is expressed exclusively in the blood vessel cells. The researchers found that IFNγ induced regression of the tumor blood vessels, leading to arrest of blood flow and subsequent collapse of tumors. On the other hand, targeting other cell types with IFNγ did not impact tumor growth. (Cusabio provides IFNγ, TNF, and Recombinant GABRA4.) Charité Campus Buch, Berlin Institute of Health, Charité - Universitätsmedizin, University Clinics Ulm, University of Marburg, and German Center for Cardiovascular Research in Germany, Beckman Research Institute at the Comprehensive Cancer Center City of Hope and The University of Chicago in the USA, and University College London also participant in the study.
