Scientists learn how immune cells are rewired by platelet-activating factor to facilitate the formation of tumors.
The metaphor that cancer is “a wound that does not heal” takes on new significance in light of a recent discovery of how the immune system might inadvertently stimulate tumor growth. According to the research, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a crucial molecule called platelet-activating factor (PAF) has the ability to change immune cells from being cancer’s defenders to its supporters.
This important study was led by Dr. Minsoo Kim, PhD, who oversees research at the Wilmot Cancer Institute. His team discovered that PAF weakens the immune system’s capacity to defend itself in addition to attracting cells that aid in the spread of cancer. This finding is noteworthy because it suggests that PAF may have an impact on multiple cancer types.
The University of Rochester Medical Center’s Dr. Kim, a Dean’s Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, emphasizes how this finding may change the way that cancer is treated. “We could potentially treat many different types of cancer if we find a treatment that interferes with PAF,” Kim says. This has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of not only pancreatic cancer, which is particularly lethal because of its protective tumor environment, but also other difficult-to-treat malignancies such as lung, breast, ovarian, and colorectal.
The research team closely observed the interactions between immune cells and different malignancies using state-of-the-art 3D imaging equipment. Their discoveries provide fresh hope for creating medications that can counteract PAF’s detrimental effects and bring back the immune system’s innate capacity to fight cancer.
Ankit Dahal, PhD, a member of Kim’s lab and UR Medical Scientist Training Program student, was instrumental in the study’s design and served as an article co-author. This discovery suggests that a crucial first step in combating these aggressive illnesses may be to target PAF, which represents a new avenue for cancer research.
