Researchers have discovered a way to better guide immunotherapy to fight different types of blood cancer, turning a shot in the dark into a precision-guided missile.
A particular type of immunotherapy has recently been developed, called bispecific T-cell therapy, which has been very promising in the treatment of a number of blood cancers, such as leukemia, myeloma and lymphoma. .
Blood cancers, including leukemia and lymphoma, are now the second most common and deadly form of cancer, according to the Leukemia Foundation. Credit:
However, the exact mechanism of how immunotherapy works was not well understood, so users of QIMR Berghofer and Peter MacCallum Cancer Center set out to find out.
Senior researcher, QIMR cancer immunologist Dr. Kyohei Nakamura said they found that a specific type of cell, known as iNKT cells, had a direct effect on how immunotherapy worked.
“We have found that iNKT cells play a critical role in the effectiveness of immunotherapy and we have found a potential approach to improving this immunotherapy,” he said.
The research team found that when iNKT cells were present in greater numbers in a given patient, that patient had a better outcome in immunotherapy.
“INKT cells are usually rare in the body, and are even rarer in cancer patients,” Nakamura said.
“Our research for the first time shows the importance of these iNKT cells and their critical role in increasing the efficacy of bispecific T-cell therapy.”
Mika Casey, of QIMR, said that increasing the number of iNKTs in the body could help target new immunotherapy where it needed to be.