New research unlocks
New research unlocks key to long-lasting immune response in cancer and chronic diseases
A discovery about the mechanisms that enable the immune system to sustain long-term protection could revolutionise treatment for chronic disease and cancer.
Prolonged illnesses like cancer and chronic infections often leave the immune system in a state of exhaustion, where its frontline defenders – T cells – lose their ability to function effectively. Research, led by the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac), have identified a rare type of immune cells, called stem-like T cells, that holds the key to maintaining powerful, long-term immune responses.
Published in Science Immunology, the study revealed that the endurance of these stem-like T cells is fuelled by a protein called ID3, expressed by a gene of the same name. These ID3+ T cells have a unique ability to self-renew and resist exhaustion, giving them the power to sustain immune responses far longer than other T cells that don’t express ID3.
The University of Melbourne’s Catarina Gago da Graça, PhD Candidate at the Doherty Institute, said the research highlights how ID3+ T cells hold the key to overcoming one of the biggest challenges in treating chronic diseases—immune exhaustion.
The research also found that certain signals in the body could increase the number of ID3+ T cells, paving the way for improved treatments like CAR T cell therapy. While CAR T therapy has been transformative in treating certain cancers, its effectiveness can wane over time due to T cell exhaustion.
Professor Ricky Johnstone, Executive Director Cancer Research at Peter Mac and co-lead author of the study, said enhancing ID3 activity could strengthen the endurance of these cells, making therapies more effective and long-lasting.“This could lead to better treatments for cancer patients and improve clinical immunotherapy outcomes.”
The University of Melbourne’s Dr Daniel Utzschneider, Laboratory Head at the Doherty Institute, said the findings could lead to advancements in immunotherapy treatments and the development of vaccines that provide long-lasting protection. “Exhausted immune cells remain one of the biggest challenges in treating chronic diseases,” said Dr Utzschneider.
This research is the result of a collaborative effort between the Doherty Institute, Peter Mac, La Trobe University, Northwestern University (USA), the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, the University of Birmingham (UK) and the University of Melbourne.
