Cancer is fundamentally a disease of cellular abnormalities. By understanding how these abnormalities develop and progress, researchers can discover new approaches to treatment. That is exactly what a new study from Tel Aviv University has revealed, according to The Jerusalem Post. The study, recently published in Science Immunology, shows how macrophages—immune cells that normally remove damaged and dead cells—can be reprogrammed by tumors to promote cancer growth.
To investigate the process, the team developed a new technology called Effero-seq, which tracks changes in immune cells after they engulf dead cells. Using the method, the researchers found that macrophages that consumed dead cancer cells underwent what they described as “reprogramming,” activating genes associated with tumor growth.
The team used a melanoma model to examine the effects of the altered immune cells. They found that macrophages that had consumed dead cancer cells encouraged the formation of new blood vessels inside tumors. The additional blood vessels supplied tumors with oxygen and nutrients, allowing them to grow more rapidly.
The researchers also found that these macrophages became less responsive to signals that normally trigger anti-cancer immune activity.
Study leader Dr. Merav Cohen said that understanding this mechanism could lead to new treatments capable of reversing the process. Rather than targeting only the cancer itself, future therapies could focus on the immune cells that tumors manipulate to support their growth. Because many cancers hijack the immune system, restoring its normal function may prove to be an effective treatment strategy.
