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Cells Enhancing Tumor Growth Identified:

A study led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists has identified the population of white blood cells that tumors use to enhance growth and suppress the disease-fighting immune system. The results mark a turning point in cancer immunology and provide the foundation for developing more effective immunotherapies.

For years, researchers have known that a diverse group of white blood cells called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) are more abundant in cancer patients than in healthy individuals. The cells enhance cancer growth and suppress the specialized T cells that target and destroy tumor cells. MDSCs have a common origin in the bone marrow, but leave to travel throughout the body and become immune cells with different functions. Blocking T cells is one of the main MDSC functions, Science Daily wrote.

Until now, however, efforts to distinguish among the cell types and identify the population responsible for anti-tumor immune suppression have fallen short. The puzzle has hampered efforts to harness the immune system to fight disease.

Working in the laboratory and in mouse models of cancer, researchers on this study showed immune suppression associated with MDSCs is primarily the work of a type of white blood cells called monocytes. Monocytes give rise to macrophages that help clean up dead or damaged tissue, fight cancer and regulate the immune response.

“We have identified the monocytic cells as the important cell to target, not only in cancer but possibly for treatment of autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory bowel diseases where dampening the immune response could provide relief,” said corresponding author Peter Murray, PhD, a member of the St. Jude departments of Infectious Diseases and Immunology.

http://www.iran-daily.com/News/57863.html

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