Immune cell that helps to kill bladder cancer tumors identified

Mount Sinai researchers have made two important discoveries about the mechanism by which bladder cancer cells foil attacks from the immune system. The research, published in Cancer Cell in September, could lead to a new therapeutic option for patients with these types of tumors.

Advanced bladder cancer is aggressive and patients generally have poor prognoses. Several immune checkpoint inhibitors have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for bladder cancer, but they only sustain good responses in about 20 percent of patients.

When people get cancer, a type of immune cell called a "natural killer cell" swings into action to try to kill off the tumor cells. However, the tumor cells are often able to foil the attacks from the natural killer cells. The Mount Sinai researchers reported that they had found a subset of CD8 T cells that adapts to tumor evasion strategies by appropriating innate-like properties traditionally ascribed to natural killer cells, offering a strategy to reduce the tumor cells' ability to fight them off.

To conduct the study, the researchers profiled tumors and blood of bladder cancer patients across various stages of the disease, and studied all specimens immediately after surgical removal from patients to ensure they could capture live immune cells and examine their functioning.

Ref:

Amir Horowitz et al,Cancer Cell,Researchers identify immune cell that helps kill bladder cancer tumors THE MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL / MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE