September 4, 2024 | Highland, MD – New JKTG Foundation-funded research identifies potential new immune system target to head off the spread of breast cancer cells. The work is from the Johns Hopkins Giovanis Institute and appears in the journal Oncogene.

The study, using human breast cancer cells, allowed scientist to potentially identify immune system white blood cells that appear to be the closest neighbors of breast cancer cells that are likely to spread. The researchers say the finding, focused on a white blood cell called a macrophage, may provide a new biological target for immunotherapies designed to destroy spreading cancer cells that are often markers for worsening disease.

For the study, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center used special imaging techniques to see the organization of individual cells within tumors, and built on work by colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Giovanis Institute, whose previous work focused on identifying biomarkers on breast cancer cells that are likely to spread.

“One of the most exciting developments in cancer treatment is immunotherapy — drugs that help the immune system attack a tumor,” says Andrew Ewald, Ph.D., professor and director of the Department of Cell Biology and director of the Johns Hopkins Giovanis Institute. But he notes, such immunotherapies so far work only for a subset of patients, a clear indication that more — and more specific — cellular targets must be identified to broaden the effectiveness of such therapies.

The researchers’ focus on immune system cells is logical, because such cells start their work by getting up close to cancer cells, says Ewald. Touches between cells start a kind of “handshake” process that lets immune cells such as macrophages identify a cell they encounter.

When those encounters occur, the immune system biologically “tags” some as “foreign” to the body and ripe for destruction, while leaving others alone. But one of the hallmarks of cancer cells is their ability to mask their identity and trick the immune system into leaving them alone to grow, change and spread.

Read the press release here to learn more about this important research.