The immune system would not function properly in the absence of CD226, a molecule that helps killer lymphocytes “target” cancer cells to destroy. Without it, the immune response is inoperative, which explains the failure of immunotherapy in some patients.
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- The CD226 molecule is essential for the proper functioning of the immune system.
- Without it, the killer lymphocytes, responsible for eliminating cancerous cells, are unable to spot them.
- It is the absence of CD226 in some cancer patients that explains why immunotherapy may be ineffective.
Medical research is advancing to deal with cancer, but there is still progress to be made. In recent years, one of the most promising techniques for fighting cancer at an advanced stage has been immunotherapy. This technique involves stimulating the patient’s immune system to defend itself. However, if it works in a multitude of cases, many cancers resist it. A team of international researchers, led by the Cancer Research Center of Toulouse, thinks they have discovered why this treatment does not overcome all cancers. The results of their study were published in the journal Immunity.
A molecule essential to the immune system
In some cancer patients, one molecule, CD226, is missing. This molecule is essential for the proper functioning of TCD8 lymphocytes, or killer lymphocytes. They are the ones responsible for destroying the target cells that attack the body. The CD226 molecule acts as a “marker” for killer lymphocytes, because it is this which indicates which cells are to be eradicated.
The lack of this molecule in some people with cancer prevents their killer lymphocytes from doing their job properly. Moreover, this absence is a bad sign, since it worsens the prognosis in certain malignant diseases such as breast, liver or lung cancer.
Thus, if immunotherapy fails to work in some people, it is because the killer lymphocytes, one of the major components of our immune system, are ineffective against cancer cells that they do not know how to designate. CD226 would therefore be the key that would explain why immunotherapy would work or not to fight cancer.
Corrections to current immunotherapy
If the researchers were able to reach this conclusion, it was thanks to samples from 177 patients with different cancers (lung, breast, ovary, myeloma) and experimental tumor models. By carrying out their experiment, they were able to realize how the expression of CD226 in the immune response is essential for the success of immunotherapy.
This new discovery could lead to new treatments in order to make immunotherapy more effective and to cure more people of cancer. Given the importance of killer lymphocytes in the immune response, this will also help to cover other pathologies in which their role is predominant.
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