Kennet Ruona
The investigation team, made up (from left to right) Luís Henriques-Oliveira, Ilia Kurochin, Carlos-Filipe Pereira and Abigail Altman
Scientists believe that the new discovery paves the way to more effective immunotherapy treatments, adapted to each patient and cancer type, and may even create strategies to combat other diseases such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
An international research team, led by the University of Coimbra (UC) and the University of Lund, Sweden, identified new “revenues” to reprogram cellular models and convert them into different dendritic cell subtypes.
Dendritic cells are part of our immune system; and, by identifying and capturing threats, have a determining role in response to disease.
It was looking for new information to reprogram skin cells and cancer cells in dendritic cell subtypes that the team of scientists has achieved identify two new combinations of three factors, which allow the identity of cells to regulate.
“These combinations They work as ‘recipes’ to convert a cell in another cell type“, Reveals the researcher at the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology at UC (CNC-UC) and the Biomedicine and Biotechnology Innovation Center (CIBB), Carlos Filipe Pereirain a statement sent to zap.
“In concrete, from the new data for cell reprogramming that we reveal in this study, It is possible to generate two subtypes of dendritic cells more effectively Still little explored in immunotherapy: Type 2 and plasmocytoids, ”adds the investigation leader.
Carlos Filipe Pereira explains that “how different tumors respond differently to treatments, identify the ‘recipes’ that originate each subtype of dendritic cells paves the way for personalized treatments of immunotherapyadapted to each patient and the type of cancer he faces ”.
“This knowledge can bring us closer to more effective immunotherapies, helping to reduce the likelihood of therapeutic failure and accelerate the development of new strategies against cancer”, Highlights the UC scientist.
In immunotherapy, the immune system of the person who is sick is used to combat his own cancer. In this type of treatment, the immune system is taught to recognize and attack cancer cells to destroy the tumor.
As dendritic cells “are the ‘teachers’ From the process, being essential to guide and trigger effective answers, although the use of its different subtypes in immunotherapy is still reduced, ”explains the teacher at the University of Lund.
Although immunotherapy is seen as one of the most promising areas of medicine, in the case of oncology “a significant part of cancer types and patients do not respond to this treatment,” he adds.
Successful animal experiences
In a study last week in the magazine Immunityinvestigators have been able to demonstrate that different dendritic cell subtypes have distinct beneficial effects on animal models of melanoma and breast cancer.
“Thus, this study does not provide a unique solution, but it opens the possibility of adapting the therapeutic strategy to the tumor subtype, bringing us closer to more personalized and effective immunotherapies,” says Carlos-Filipe Pereira.
In addition to the treatment of cancer, this study can also contribute to the Cell reprogramming directed to other diseases, such as diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis.
The study has as its first author the student of the Doctoral Program in Experimental Biology and Biomedicine of the University of Coimbra and researcher at CNC-UC and CIBB, LUÍS HENRIQUES-OLIVEIRA.
