Chemical trail helping the immune system find cancer: CCL5 and CXCL9

The findings on the paper published June 10 in the journal Cancer Cell, titled “Cooperation between Constitutive and Inducible Chemokines Enables T Cell Engraftment and Immune Attack in Solid Tumors”, show a method of previously unknown importance by which the immune system finds tumors. 

It all comes down to the secretion of CCL5 and CXCL9. These two molecules are chemokines, this class of proteins function as a signaling beacon for attracting immune system cells. Cells are drawn to the source of the chemokines and, depending on what this source is, commence an attack. There are many types of chemokines and none appeared of crucial relevance to the recruitment of immune cells into tumors, but this recent study proved that CCL5 and CXCL9 are critical.

This work is already helping improve cancer therapies. George Coukos, MD, PhD, the study´s principal investigator, mentioned that these findings help identify druggable targets and strategies that will allow better cell therapies and checkpoint inhibitor treatments. It is expected that similar studies will help us continue to understand cancer and other diseases to improve patients’ lives.

Links:
https://www.genengnews.com/news/key-step-discovered-to-the-successful-t-cell-invasion-of-tumors/
https://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108(19)30242-9?_ga=2.136550448.1233833680.1560310511-958368770.1544457961