Have we found the new composer of the immune system?
Cancer types:
General cancer research
Project period:
–
Research institute:
Istituto Clinico Humanitas
Award amount:
£235,000
Location:
Italy
Dr Eduardo Bonavita and his team are investigating how a particular molecule called Bhlhe40 could activate our body’s immune response to cancer. They hope to design new strategies to complement current treatments so that immunotherapy works better for more cancer patients.
Why is this research needed?
Immunotherapy is a growing area in cancer therapy as it has less side effects than other treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Although immunotherapy has had great results it has a low response rate, so it doesn’t work on all cancers or all patients. One of the reasons for this is because we don’t have in depth information about how the immune system interacts with cancer cells.
Dr Eduardo Bonavita and his team want to unravel the fundamental mechanisms behind a particular protein involved in our immune response to cancer. The team think that this protein is involved in regulating an immune cell called a dendritic cell that is crucial in orchestrating anti-tumor immunity. By better understanding how this protein behaves they hope to discover new immunotherapy treatments that can help more patients.
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What is the science behind this project?
Bhlhe40 is a protein known as a transcription factor that could help control how dendritic cells, a type of immune cell, operate inside the tumour environment. Dendritic cells are essential for an effective immune response, as they instruct other immune cells on how to respond to threats such as cancer.
Bhlhe40 is like an orchestra composer. While it doesn’t directly ‘play the instruments’, it sets the direction for the ‘conductor’ (the dendritic cell) to lead the ‘orchestra’ (the immune cells ). Bhlhe40, as the ‘composer’, turns on specific genes in dendritic cells, providing a ‘song’ that guides the dendritic cells in orchestrating a coordinated immune attack on cancer cells
However, little is currently known about Bhlhe40 ‘the composer’ and in cancer it could sometimes be faulty resulting in a ‘disorganised orchestra’ and an ineffective immune response. With your support Dr Eduardo Bonavita and his team will investigate how Bhlhe40 functions in dendritic cells as this might give a clue as to why in some tumours there is a poor immune response.
What difference could this project make to patients in the future?
The team will use cutting edge technology to provide a comprehensive view of Bhlhe40’s role and will hopefully reveal clues towards new immunotherapies. This could ultimately help save lives and improve the quality of life for those affected cancer.
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