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IMAGE: A UT Southwestern study discovered the molecular mechanism by which tumors defective in DNA mismatch repair respond to immunotherapy. This illustration depicts how cells use a programmed mismatch repair deficiency-activated. view more
Credit: Illustration by Yipin Wu
DALLAS - Dec. 17, 2020 - DNA that ends up where it doesn t belong in cancer cells can unleash an immune response that makes tumors more susceptible to immunotherapy, the results of two UT Southwestern studies indicate. The findings, published online today in
Cancer Cell, suggest that delivering radiation - which triggers DNA release from cells - before immunotherapy could be an effective way to fight cancers that are challenging to treat.
Errant DNA triggers immune system response against cancer
DNA that ends up where it doesn t belong in cancer cells can unleash an immune response that makes tumors more susceptible to immunotherapy, the results of two UT Southwestern studies indicate. The findings, published online today in
Cancer Cell, suggest that delivering radiation - which triggers DNA release from cells - before immunotherapy could be an effective way to fight cancers that are challenging to treat.
Nearly a decade ago, the Food and Drug Administration approved checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy that removes defenses that allow cancer cells to masquerade as healthy cells, prompting the immune system to attack them. In 2015, researchers showed that these therapies had particular promise for cancers prompted by defects in cells mismatch repair system, which proofreads DNA as it is copied. If this system is faulty, genetic mutations quickly build, spurring some cells to become malignant.