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Cancer Care |
Christiana Care cancer specialists aid in discovery
of cellular network that ‘short circuits’ anti-tumor effects of immunotherapy
Medical and surgical oncologists at Christiana Care’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute collaborated with research scientists at The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia to discover a novel form
of cell-to-cell crosstalk in the tumor microenvironment that neutralize current immunotherapeutic strategies designed to block tumor growth. Their findings, published online in Cancer Cell, also suggest a more effective antitumor therapeutic approach.
Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) contribute to all aspects of tumor progression. Because of their ability to promote tumor cell proliferation and invasion and to inhibit antitumor immune response mediated by T cells, TAMs have been considered an appealing therapeutic target. However, inhibition of the CSF-1 receptor (CSF-1R), which mediates the functions and survival of TAMs, has had limited antitumor effect.
“Our findings revealed new aspects of the intricate cellular network that involves tumor cells, TAMs and cancer-associated fibroblasts that talk to each other via production of chemical messengers,” said lead study author Dmitry I. Gabrilovich, M.D., Ph.D., Christopher M. Davis Professor and program leader of the Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program at
Wistar. “We discovered an additional effect of CSF-1R inhibition that brings into play other immunosuppressive cells that sustain tumor progression.”
Christiana Care head and neck surgeon Neil Hockstein, M.D., and thoracic surgeon Brian Nam, M.D., joined surgeons Charles Mulligan, M.D., and Frederick M. Denstman, M.D., as co-authors on the Wistar study.
“As a member of the Graham Cancer Center’s Head and Neck Cancer Multidisciplinary team, our research collaboration with The Wistar Institute is critical for our patient population,” Dr. Hockstein said. “We are poised on the cutting edge of translational cancer research as we continue to drive basic science more quickly toward improved, and potentially, more beneficial therapies.”
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14 CHRISTIANA CARE HEALTH SYSTEM
Dmitry I. Gabrilovich, M.D.
Medical and surgical oncologists at Christiana Care’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute collaborated with research scientists at The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia to discover a novel form of cell- to-cell crosstalk in the tumor microenvironment that neutralizes current immunotherapeutic strategies designed to block tumor growth. Tumor- associated macrophages are an appealing therapeutic target because of their ability to promote tumor cell proliferation and invasion and to inhibit antitumor immune response mediated by T cells.