26.10.2018 change 29.10.2018

ERC grant winner investigates the relationship between cancer and the immune system

Photo: Fotolia Photo: Fotolia

Cancer cells resort to various tricks to hide from the immune system. ERC grantee Dr. Magdalena Winiarska investigates how they deceive the body`s guards - lymphocytes. Her research may help in the development of immunotherapy.

Cancer cells are cells that have "crossed over to the dark side of the force". They differ from healthy cells by some proteins that have mutated. In order to fight cancer, the body must distinguish between such defective variants and healthy cells. And this is a difficult task. Dr. Magdalena Winiarska from the Medical University of Warsaw is working on solutions that will help the immune system identify and kill mutated cancer cells.

Her research may help in the development of immunotherapy, which is currently the most dynamically developing field of oncology. In this therapy, toxic substances are not directly administered to the patient`s cancer cells, but instead the patient receives substances that support the immune system in fighting cancer.

"I study the interactions between cancer cells and the immune system, especially T cells and NK cells. I focus on what substances that cancer cells can secrete that impair the immune system" - Dr. Winiarska describes in an interview with PAP. She received a prestigious ERC (European Research Council) grant for her research.

The biologist explains that there are various mechanisms that prevent the immune system cells from successfully combating cancer.

First of all, tumours are great at pretending to be healthy cells. The researcher explains that to distinguish host cells from strangers, T cells use a specific "registration number" - a set of MHC proteins that each cell presents outside (these proteins are responsible for transplant rejection). If there is a mutation in the cell, this should also affect the appearance of this "registration number". But cancer cells do not show their "registration number" and thus can not be identified by T cells.

Identification of a malfunctioning cell is the first step. The next step is to kill such a rebellious cell. And cancer cells have developed many strategies that hinder or even prevent the immune system from killing them.

One strategy is "dragging" the correct cells of the immune system over "to the dark side of the force". It is known that macrophages, whose task is to destroy cancerous cells, under the influence of the tumour`s environment may change from bodyguards to "thugs" that support the development of a tumour. Thus altered, the macrophages further impede the functioning of T cells and their efforts to eliminate cancer cells.

Cancer cells may also have a different survival strategy. They can have proteins on their surface that block the kill signal from the immune system. This year`s Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology was awarded for discovering and describing these mechanisms.

Another method is the secretion of metabolites by the tumour, metabolic products that may impair lymphocyte function. "My grant will be spent on studying the metabolic processes in the cancer cell and the ways they can impede the immune system" - the researcher says.

She adds that there are more and more anticancer therapies in the world, whose task is to "influence the metabolism of the mutated cell, so as to not only to inhibit the cellular pathways the cancer needs, but also to facilitate the action of T cells and NK cells". For example, both cancer cells and lymphocytes multiply intensively and compete with each other for energy necessary for this process - also for glucose or glutamine. "We can therefore try to hit the cellular pathways in tumours so that they do not consume substances the lymphocytes need" - she says.

"We want to know exactly how a cancer cell functions and what substances it secretes effectively impede the immune system" - the researcher concludes.

Asked about whether obtaining an ERC grant required a lot of effort, Dr. Winiarska replies that it did not. "It took me less than a month to write an application, but that`s because I often do things at the last minute" - she says. And she encourages scientists to apply for grants. According to the researcher, the grants application system of the National Science Centre is very similar to the ERC system. "It was perhaps even easier for me to apply to the ERC because I did not have to write a description in Polish" - she smiles.

PAP - Science in Poland, Ludwika Tomala

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