According to new research, therapies may cause lymph nodes to produce tumour-fighting T cells.Typically, lymph nodes close to the tumour are removed as part of cancer treatment in case they harbour metastatic cancer cells. Nevertheless, recent study from a clinical trial conducted by Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco researchers demonstrates that immunotherapy can activate tumour-fighting T cells in surrounding lymph nodes.
The study, published in Cell, suggests that leaving lymph nodes intact until after immunotherapy could boost efficacy against solid tumors, only a small fraction of which currently respond to these newer types of treatments.
Most immunotherapies are aimed only at reinvigorating T cells in the tumor, where they often become exhausted battling the tumor’s cancer cells. But the new research shows that allowing the treatment to activate the immune response of the lymph nodes as well can play an important role in driving positive response to immunotherapy.
“This work really changes our thinking about the importance of keeping lymph nodes in the body during treatment,” said Matt Spitzer, PhD, an investigator for the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology and senior author of the study. Lymph nodes are often removed because they are typically the first place metastatic cancer cells appear, and without surgery, it can be difficult to determine whether the nodes contain metastases.
“Immunotherapy is designed to jump start the immune response, but when we take out nearby lymph nodes before treatment, we’re essentially removing the key locations where T cells live and can be activated,” Spitzer said, noting that the evidence supporting the removal of lymph nodes is from older studies that predate the use of today’s immunotherapies. Aim for the Lymph Nodes, Not the Tumor Researchers have largely been working under the assumption that cancer immunotherapy works by stimulating the immune cells within the tumor, Spitzer said. But in a 2017 study in mice, Spitzer showed that immunotherapy drugs are actually activating the lymph nodes. “That study changed our understanding of how these therapies might be working,” said Spitzer.
Source: ANI