Two independent studies led by Ludwig Cancer researchers in Lausanne/Harvard (M. Pittet/A. Klein) and New York (T. Merghoub/J. Wolchok) show that neutrophils can play an important role in the success of cancer immunotherapies. The preclinical studies were published in the current issue of Cell.
Two independent Ludwig Cancer Research studies published in the current issue of the journal Cell show that immune cells known as neutrophils, whose abundance in the microenvironment of tumors has traditionally been associated with poor patient prognosis, can play an important role in the success of cancer immunotherapies.
One study, co-led by Ludwig Lausanne Member Mikaël Pittet and Allon Klein of Harvard Medical School, identifies a functional state assumed by neutrophils following immunotherapy—termed the Sellhi state—in which they become formidable agents of antitumor immunity in mouse models of lung and colon cancer.
The other Ludwig study, led by Taha Merghoub and Jedd Wolchok, co-directors of the Ludwig Collaborative Laboratory at Weill Cornell Medicine, simultaneously discovered in a mouse model of melanoma that neutrophils are essential to the complete destruction of tumors during immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). Reflecting these findings, tumor samples from patients successfully treated with ICB were found to be teeming with neutrophils.
Articles:
Gungabeeson et al. (2023) A neutrophil response linked to tumor control in immunotherapy. Cell 186(7):1448-1464.e20 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.02.032
Hirschhorn et al. (2023): T cell immunotherapies engage neutrophils to eliminate tumor antigen escape variants. Cell 186(7):1432-1447.e17 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.03.007
Media coverage:
- Découverte de cellules qui pourraient renforcer la lutte contre le cancer – Le Matin
- Les neutrophiles, des cellules clés pour lʹimmunothérapie – RTS.ch
- The power of neutrophils in immunotherapy – Centre de recherche sur l’inflammation de Genève – UNIGE
- Surprise finding shows that neutrophils can be key antitumor weapons — ScienceDaily
- Study shows how neutrophils play a key role in cancer immunotherapy success (news-medical.net)
- Ludwig Cancer Research on Twitter
