To identify how cancers like mesothelioma can still grow despite the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors, combined cells with immune cells called the T cells were then examined using an electron microscope.
As specified in a Mesothelioma.net report, researchers studying the condition may benefit from a significant discovery of cancer cells.
Scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital were able to identify a mechanism that's helping cancer cells increase the amount of energy they're using while at the same time reducing the energy used by the immune system to destroy them. Such findings may offer a new approach for defeating the resistance of cancer to treatment.
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High magnification micrograph of a malignant epithelioid mesothelioma
Nanotubes Used to Transfer Material Between Cells
Essentially, mesothelioma, as well as other highly-resistant cancer cells, presents a substantial challenge. However, one of the most promising approaches has been the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors, as described on the National Cancer Institute's website.
Such inhibitors are blocking the actions of immune-blocking proteins on the surface of the cells. However, as indicated in this report, such a protocol is not always practical.
Drs. Hae Lin Jang and Shiladitya Sengupta discovered that the cells were connected via nanotubes.
It is commonly known that the hollow tubes are used to transfer material between cells, although in his circumstance, the material being transported was mitochondria, which produces energy.
Mitochondria
Mitochondria are present in most cells. More so, they are responsible for providing them with energy. When the study investigators stained mitochondria in the T cell, as detailed in Healthline, with a fluorescent dye, they discovered they moved via the nanotubes into the cancer cells. However, no material was transported from the cancer cells into the immune cells.
Closer analysis showed that the cancer cells started to produce more energy and grew more rapidly following the transfer, while the T cells died.
It is an indication that the cancer cells were not only escaping the effect of the immune cell but were in fact, benefiting from their presence.
The study published in the Nature Nanotechnology journal tested a theory that may offer mesothelioma researchers and those combating cancer with invaluable information, not to mention, a new approach for battling the illness.
Nanotube Function
After they noted that one-way transportation of energy incapacitated the immune system and strengthened the cancer cells, the researchers inhibited the nanotubes' formation while simultaneously administering an immune checkpoint inhibitor.
Moreover, they discovered that such a combination reduced tumor growth more than any of the approaches by itself.
Describing their findings, Dr. Sengupta said, "cancer kills when the immune system is suppressed and the cancer cells can metastasize. More so, nanotubes can help them do both."
It is a totally new approach by which cancer cells escape the immune system, and it provides the researchers a new target to go after in terms of finding a potential treatment for cancer resistance.
Related information about Mesothelioma is shown on Medical Centric's YouTube video below:
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