Development of novel cancer immunotherapy based on the release of immune anergic state

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H06878
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Tumor therapeutics
• Research Institution: National Cancer Center Japan
• Principal Investigator: Maeda Yuka 国立研究開発法人国立がん研究センター, 研究所, 研究員 (20757223)
• Research Collaborator: YAMAZAKI Naoya ; MORI Taisuke
• Project Period (FY): 2015-08-28 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: がん免疫療法 / 制御性T細胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Cancer immunotherapies are now a critical category of cancer therapy. However, the clinical benefits with immune checkpoint inhibitors are observed in limited patients. Additionally, immune-related adverse effects are often experienced in the treated patients, indicating the importance to identify predictive biomarkers for both clinical responders and patients with adverse effects. As most tumor antigens are derived from self-constituents, immunological self-tolerance induced by naturally occurring Tregs may hamper the induction of effective T-cell responses. We investigated Treg-suppressed tumor (self) antigen-specific CD8+ T cells and found that Tregs rendered them anergic by inhibiting co-stimulation of antigen-presenting cells. In this study, we examined frequency, function and markers of anergic T cells in malignant melanoma patients. We then propose that the correlation of cancer immunosuppressive state (anergic state) and clinical outcome of malignant melanoma patients.

Free Research Field

腫瘍免疫