Solna [Sweden] June 3 (ANI) Specialized long-lasting killer cells are found in our skin and act as a defense against invaders. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now determined how these cells are created and shown that higher concentrations of memory-killing cells in tumor tissue are associated with a higher probability of survival for melanoma patients. Immunity, a publication, has published the work.
Certain immune T cells called tissue-resident memory cells form locally in the skin and other tissue, and protect against infections they have encountered before. Some of them express proteins that enable them to kill infected cells. These “memory killer cells” may also contribute to the inflammatory skin diseases vitiligo and psoriasis. Recent research has shown that they are also involved in the body’s immune response to various forms of cancer.
Different treatment responses. The memory killer cells have been shown to respond to immunotherapy, a Nobel Prize-winning cancer therapy that involves adjusting/activating the immune system. Immunotherapy is normally given as an adjunct to other cancer treatments and there is great variation in how patients respond to it.
– We don’t know much about how and why memory-killing cells form in the skin and what this means for cancer patients, says Professor Yenan Bryceson at the Department of Medicine (Huddinge), Karolinska Institutet. “Finding out how these cells develop allows us to contribute to the development of more effective immunotherapy for diseases such as melanoma.” The study mapped the development of memory-killing cells in human skin, carried out as a collaboration between KI researchers Beatrice Zitti and Elena Hoffer. The researchers isolated T cells from the skin and blood of healthy volunteers and used advanced techniques to examine gene activity and expression of various proteins. This allowed them to identify T cells in the blood with the potential to develop into memory killer cells in skin or other tissues. After knocking out specific genes, they were also able to show which genes are required to mature memory killer cells in tissue.
More effective immunotherapy The researchers then went on to study tumor samples from melanoma patients and found that those with higher survival rates also had a greater accumulation of epidermal memory killer cells.
“We have been able to identify several factors that control the formation of memory killer cells, which play an important role in maintaining healthy skin,” says Liv Eidsmo, dermatologist and professor at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and researcher at the Karolinska Institutet. in Sweden. “There is a fine balance between effective protection against tumors and infections in the skin and contribution to inflammatory diseases such as vitiligo and psoriasis.” eliminate cancer cells in tissues.
The study has been carried out in collaboration with Karolinska University Hospital, Nordiska Kliniken and Vrinnevi Hospital. It was financed by grants from Novartis, the EU (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions), KI foundations and funds, the Swedish Research Council, Ragnar Sรถderberg’s foundation, the Swedish Medical Association, Region Stockholm (ALF program), the Swedish Psoriasis Foundation, the Swedish Dermatologist Foundation, the Cancer Foundation, the Gรถran Gustafsson Foundation , Stockholm City Council, Karolinska Institutet Center for Innovative Medicine (CIMED) and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. There are no reported conflicts of interest.(ANI)
Source: sn.dk