E-Mail
A new Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) study has identified for the first time how the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), an environmental chemical receptor, drives immunosuppression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)--and that its removal from malignant cells can result in tumor rejection.
Published in the journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study findings provide new insight into the biology of cancer immunosuppression, and identify a new target for cancer immunotherapy treatment.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (immunotherapy drugs) are some of the most important treatments that have emerged for treating many cancers, including OSCC. Targeting immune checkpoint molecules such as PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA4 has demonstrated that immunosuppression plays a significant role in OSCC pathology. But immune checkpoint inhibitors are only effective for about 30 percent of cancer patients, so there is a critical need for researchers to identify new immunotherapy targets.