Researchers at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and international partners have made a breakthrough in cancer immunotherapy, discovering a way to enhance the immune system’s ability to fight cancer by reprogramming how T cells produce energy.
The study, published in Nature Communications, shows that disabling a protein called Ant2 in T cells significantly improves their effectiveness against tumors. By forcing T cells to rewrite their internal power supply, scientists effectively turned them into stronger and more resilient cancer fighters.
The researchers found that disabling Ant2 triggered a complete shift in how T cells produce and use energy, making them better at recognizing and killing cancer cells. This reprogramming could potentially be applied across many types of solid tumors or hematological cancers, including those resistant to immunotherapy.
The study’s findings suggest that this approach may offer more natural and effective therapies, while avoiding severe side effects seen in chemotherapy or full immune activation. The researchers believe that their discovery opens the door to new classes of cancer drugs and potentially durable CAR-T therapies.
Source: https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-862606