Researchers on the Brink of a Scientific Breakthrough in Cancer Treatment

By figuring out how the body’s immune system targets diseased cells, a multinational team of scientists is on the cusp of a breakthrough in the fight against cancer.

According to a recent study that was published in the journal Science Advances, the immune system's natural killer cells—which guard against infections and disease—have an innate ability to identify and target a protein that promotes the formation of cancer.

According to the specialists, they might be able to eradicate the disease by activating additional killer cells by taking over this protein, called XPO1.

The study’s authors, led by Professor of Hepatology Salim Khakoo from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom and co-authored by Professor Ralf Schittenhelm and Professor Anthony Purcell from Australia’s Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, assume it could lead to new and less invasive treatments.

Professor Ralf Schittenhelm stated that the discovery might alter the course of immunotherapy.

We hope it could lead to personalized cancer treatment, especially in cases where traditional therapies have failed. The potential to develop targeted therapies that utilize the body’s own immune system is incredibly exciting.”

Ralf Schittenhelm, Study Co-Author and Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Monash University

According to Professor Salim Khakoo, killer cells were previously thought to target cancer cells at random.

Our findings actually show how our body’s immune system recognizes and attacks these cancer cell. Killer cells are an emerging form of immunotherapy that shows huge promise. They don’t attack healthy tissue in the way chemotherapy and other immunotherapies do, so are safer and have less side-effects than traditional forms of cancer treatment.”

Salim Khakoo, Professor, Hepatology, University of Southampton

The XPO1 protein studied by the researchers is required for regular cell activity.

However, in many cancers, it becomes hyperactive and permits unregulated cancer cell growth.

The XPO1 protein produces peptides, which are short sequences of amino acids that the scientists discovered attract natural killer cells.

According to them, this sets off the body's defense mechanism against cancerous cells.

Khakoo added, “Patients with cancer who had both active killer cells and high levels of XPO1 had significantly better survival rates. This holds true for a range of cancers including those with higher rates of death such as liver cancer, which has an average survival rate of only 18 months. As well as liver cancer, natural killer cell treatment in the future could be used to treat head and neck cancers, endometrial, bladder or breast cancer.”

Professor Anthony Purcell added, “This finding builds on decades of antigen discovery research that incorporate state-of-the-art mass spectrometry instrumentation for the identification of novel immune targets. We wait with excitement to see how these targets progress to the clinic and benefit cancer patients.”

Natural killer cells have been connected in the past to the body's defense against cancer.

However, this most recent study is the first of its type to demonstrate a workable method of targeting the XPO1 protein to activate killer cells to combat the disease.

The group is now developing the first vaccination in history that combats cancer by using natural killer cells.