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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Health & Science

Cancer cells release antioxidants to evade the immune system

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Context piece
  • Researchers found that cancer cells release the antioxidant protein PRDX1, reducing the reactive oxygen species that T cells need to activate.
  • Experiments in mice showed that removing PRDX1 increased immune-cell activity and limited tumor growth.
  • Human cancer-cell data, tumor gene activity and fluid around removed tumors provided evidence that the mechanism also occurs in human cancers.

Cancer cells can weaken the immune attack by chemically “suffocating” nearby T cells, according to research from the University of Cambridge and Oregon Health & Science University. The cells create an environment rich in antioxidants that prevents immune cells from receiving the signals needed to activate their destructive abilities.

The finding challenges the idea that antioxidants are always helpful in cancer. Reactive oxygen species, often called free radicals, have long been associated mainly with aging, DNA damage and cancer. The study found that T cells also need small amounts of these molecules to switch on and attack tumors.

Antioxidants are not always beneficial in the context of cancer.

· Robert EilThe Oregon researcher described the study’s central counterintuitive finding.

The researchers identified peroxiredoxin 1, or PRDX1, as a key part of the process. Cancer cells release large amounts of the naturally occurring antioxidant protein, which removes reactive oxygen species from the surrounding environment and deprives T cells of activation signals.

This does not mean that patients will have a drug available tomorrow, but it opens a completely new avenue to explore.

· Robert EilHe cautioned that the discovery is an early step rather than an immediate treatment.

Using CRISPR gene editing, the team created mouse cancer cells that could not produce PRDX1. Immune-cell activity increased and tumor growth was limited across several experimental models. The researchers then examined proteins released by human cancer-cell lines, gene activity in thousands of human tumors and fluid surrounding tumors removed from patients. All three approaches produced evidence that human cancers also release PRDX1 into their surroundings.

Robert Eil, a researcher at the University of Oregon and a study author, called one result surprising: “Antioxidants are not always beneficial in the context of cancer.” He cautioned that the findings will not immediately produce a medicine, but said they open a new avenue for research. “The discovery of new targets is the starting point for future treatments,” he said.

The discovery of new targets is the starting point for future treatments.

· Robert EilHe explained the potential therapeutic importance of identifying the mechanism.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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