Researchers at Johns Hopkins have exposed the secret behind how ovarian tumors can escape detection by the body’s immune system. This lets the cancer spread unimpeded.
Ovarian tumors usually release fatty substances, or lipids in order to avoid detection by the immune system.
Ovarian Cancer | Cancer in the Ovaries - Causes, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention
Ovarian cancer affects both the ovaries and is referred to as the 'silent killer' as the symptoms go unnoticed until the disease advances.
Ovarian cancer affects both the ovaries and is referred to as the 'silent killer' as the symptoms go unnoticed until the disease advances.
They showed that fluid secretions from tumors, called ascites, which contain lipids and collect in the space surrounding cancerous ovaries, could totally suppress the action of natural killer T cells in the immune system.
These special T cells, called NKTs for short, must be activated to trigger the immune response and signal other kinds of white blood cells to rid the body of diseases or leave healthy tissue alone.
About Cancer in Women
Cancer is one of the frequently talked about and most feared disease that falls under the genre of lifestyle diseases that have evolved, rather rapidly, in the past two decades.
Cancer is one of the frequently talked about and most feared disease that falls under the genre of lifestyle diseases that have evolved, rather rapidly, in the past two decades.
The team also found that the evasive blocking tactic was virtually exclusive to a specific protein, called CD1d, needed to activate the NKT cells.
Advertisement
Breast Cancer - Causes, Risks, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Staging, Treatment, Prevention & Prognosis
Breast cancer is a cancer that affects the breasts or mammary glands. Early detection and lifestyle changes help in controlling breast cancer.
Breast cancer is a cancer that affects the breasts or mammary glands. Early detection and lifestyle changes help in controlling breast cancer.
"Our study findings lay out for the first time how ovarian cancer evades a critical check-point in the immune response, opening the door to future drug development that can halt, limit, reverse or even bypass the blockage, permitting CD1d-mediated NKT cell activation," said immunologist and study senior investigator Mathias Oelke, Ph.D.
Advertisement
Talcum Powder may Raise Cancer Risk in Women
It might come handy while freshening faces, but according to a new shocking research, women who use talcum powder every day are 40 per cent more likely to develop ovarian cancer.
It might come handy while freshening faces, but according to a new shocking research, women who use talcum powder every day are 40 per cent more likely to develop ovarian cancer.
NKT cells are also abundant in cancers that spread to the abdomen and in other infectious diseases.
"The ultimate goal, of course, is to make sure the immune system can detect the cancer and, we hope, attack and eliminate it," said study co-investigator Jonathan Schneck, M.D., Ph.D. Schneck.
He described the blocking as "rapid and prolonged," happening within four hours of ascites exposure and remaining constant for the test duration.
When ascites extracted from men and women with another disease, hepatitis C, were exposed to cells that stimulate NKT cells, only two of six ascites samples blocked its activation.
And in another experiment, immune system CD8 "killer" T cells functioned normally, even when their stimulator cells were previously treated with ascites.oreover, the blocking action only occurred with ascites. Matching blood serum samples from the women with cancer failed to block NKT activation.
Researchers have said that their next steps are to evaluate more than a dozen varieties of lipids that exist in the body to determine their specific role, if any, in modulating the blocking of the NKT cell immune response. They said their goal is to find links to other diseases and T-cell activity gone awry.
The study will appear in the latest issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
Source-ANI
TAN/L
