No 14/September 5, 2005
Tumor cells can weaken Immune Response
Latest Findings by Researchers from the Max Delbrück Center and the Charité
Tumor cells can grow without control by weakening specific
cells of the immune system, the T-cells, which normally detect and destroy
tumor cells. The findings of Dr. Gerald Willimsky and Prof. Thomas Blankenstein
(Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, MDC, Berlin-Buch and Charité) were
generated in transgenic mice over a period of seven years and have now been
published in the scientific journal Nature*
(doi:10.1038/nature03954). Until now, the notion was that tumor cells
escape recognition and subsequent destruction by T-cells by hiding.
Furthermore, Dr. Willimsky and Prof. Blankenstein could show that the immune system recognizes tumors derived from single cells and strongly reacts, for example by the increase in T-cells. However, these T-cells do not function. The findings of the two immunologists refer to sporadic tumors which develop without influence from the outside. T-cells on the other hand can control cancers caused by viral infection (e.g., B cell lymphomas triggered by Epstein Barr viruses). Even though tumor cells weaken the immune system, the two researchers are convinced that there is still hope for an immune therapy because tumor cells do not lose their structures which are targets for immune cells, making them still vulnerable for detection and destruction.
*Sporadic
immunogenic tumors avoid destruction by inducing T-cell tolerance Gerald Willimsky1, Thomas
Blankenstein1,2 1Institute of Immunology, Charité
Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12200 2Max-Delbrück-Center for
Molecular Medicine, Robert-Roessle-Straße 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany.
Barbara Bachtler
Press and Public Affairs
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