Discovery of specialized immune cells that detect and attack clogged tumors

About the episode

We never have enough of these kinds of messages. Scientists from Leiden University Medical Center and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek have discovered how specialized immune cells are able to detect and eliminate tumors that are “invisible” to conventional defense mechanisms of the immune system.

T cells that detect abnormal cells in our body can recognize many types of abnormalities, but sometimes our immune system fights cancer cells. They are only recognized if a specific molecule is attached to these cells. Some cancer cells lack this molecule, a clever trick that makes them invisible to our T cells.

Now researchers have seen something remarkable: some patients with “invisible” tumors respond very well to cancer immunotherapy. In these therapies, the body’s own T cells are strengthened and reused. It shouldn’t really work, but it does.

How it turns out: so-called gamma delta T cells – a lesser known and specialized type of immune cell – are able to detect cancer cells that are invisible to conventional T cells. So we have a second line of defence. Researchers will now see how they can be used most effectively against cancer.

Learn more about research: Specialized immune cells offer the possibility of new cancer therapies.