Decoding cancer immunology: Hunting hidden tumours

cancer is in constant combat with the body hostile cells can trigger an intricate network of interactions alerting the immune system but many cancer cells fly under the radar now advanced sequencing techniques are helping researchers unravel these complex interactions with the potential to boost the immune system and provide life-saving treatments the cancer cells have mutations that cause them to relentlessly divide but these mutations can be different between patients and even between neighboring cancer cells and not all mutations are created equal to come up with treatments researchers first need to know which mutations will sound their immune systems alarm cancer cell mutations can lead to abnormal proteins in cells proteins are constantly broken up into peptides foreign peptides can only be spotted if they're displayed on the surface of a cell the immune system uses major histocompatibility complex or MHC molecules to bind to the peptides and carry them to the cell surface but MHC is vary a lot between patients and can't always bind to the mutant peptides mutant peptides that can trigger an immune response and are specific to the tumor are called neo antigens and to find out which mutations lead to new your antigens researchers can use sequencing comparing the DNA from cancer cells with healthy cells shows which mutations the cancer has and sequencing RNA can then show which abnormal proteins might be produced sequencing can also reveal what that MHC molecules will look like and together with the mutant protein sequences this can predict which new antigens cells will display but this is only half the story because even when the antigen MHC complexes are produced the immune system might still miss them and fail to respond to the threat t-cells are the body's way of spotting foreign molecules only t-cells with the right receptors will be able to spot a cancers near antigens and there are vast numbers of different receptors understanding all this variation is also important for providing treatments researchers can sequence the t-cells that have infiltrated a tumor because t-cells vary so much each has to be sequenced individually using cutting-edge techniques this can reveal whether any have the right receptors and looking at which genes are active can show which cells are fit enough to attack the intention between T cells new antigens and MHC s is one of the most complex in biology but quicker and cheaper sequencing is helping researchers understand this interaction and put together the pieces of this complex puzzle and this information is already helping tailor treatments to patients own unique immune systems vaccines put the body on high alert for threat so a cancer vaccine could boost the concentration of the tumors near antigens switching on the immune system and flooding a tumor with the right t-cells can ramp up the immune systems fight against a tumor with treatments like these researchers are hoping to help the body win more of its battles against cancer [Music] you

Channel: nature video

Views: 162,700

Keywords: science, nature video, cancer, cancer immunotherapy, immunotherapy, cancer immunology, genetics, DNA, cancer treatment, tumour immunotherapy

Id: vponeaNiewE

Length: 4min 14sec (254 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 11 2019