Melbourne: The researchers have identified a rare type of immune cell, called stem-like T cells, that holds the key to maintaining powerful, long-term immune responses against cancer and other chronic infections.
Prolonged illnesses like cancer and chronic infections often leave the immune system in a state of exhaustion, where its frontline defenders – T cells – lose their ability to function effectively.
The research, led by the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac), revealed that the endurance of stem-like T cells is fuelled by a protein called ID3 and is expressed by a gene of the same name.
As per the Study, these ID3+ T cells have a unique ability to self-renew and resist exhaustion, giving them the power to sustain immune responses far longer than other T cells that don’t express ID3 against chronic diseases.
The study is published in Science Immunology. The University of Melbourne’s Catarina Gago da Graca, PhD Candidate at the Doherty Institute, said the research highlights how ID3+ T cells hold the key to overcoming one of the biggest challenges in treating chronic diseases–immune exhaustion.
“ID3+ T cells have the remarkable ability to resist burnout and maintain a powerful immune response over time, making them particularly effective in the face of chronic infections or cancer,” said co-first author Gago da Graca.
The research also found that certain signals in the body could increase the number of ID3+ T cells, paving the way for improved treatments like CAR T cell therapy.
Professor Ricky Johnstone, Executive Director of Cancer Research at Peter Mac and co-lead author of the study, said enhancing ID3 activity could strengthen the endurance of these cells, making therapies more effective and long-lasting.
“We discovered that ID3+ T cell formation could be promoted by specific inflammatory cues, potentially offering new strategies to boost the number of immune cells that excel at fighting cancer in patients,” said Professor Johnstone.
“This could lead to better treatments for cancer patients and improve clinical immunotherapy outcomes.” he added.
The University of Melbourne’s Dr Daniel Utzschneider, Laboratory Head at the Doherty Institute, said the findings could lead to advancements in immunotherapy treatments and the development of vaccines that provide long-lasting protection.
This research is the result of a collaborative effort between the Doherty Institute, Peter Mac, La Trobe University, Northwestern University (USA), the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, the University of Birmingham (UK) and the University of Melbourne.
