KAIST Discovers Key to Immunotherapy for Brain Tumors
KAIST researchers have discovered that B cells in tumor-draining lymph nodes play a critical role in the effectiveness of anti-CTLA-4 immunotherapy for brain tumors. This finding challenges the traditional focus on T cells and suggests new strategies for treating aggressive glioblastomas.
Why it matters
This discovery could lead to more effective immunotherapy treatments for glioblastoma, a highly aggressive and currently intractable form of brain cancer.
Researchers have uncovered a clue to why immune checkpoint inhibitors - cancer therapies that release the immune "brakes" exploited by tumors to evade attack - show limited efficacy in some brain tumors. A KAIST research team found that B cell and antibody responses initiated in tumor-draining lymph nodes, rather than T cells alone, are critical to the antitumor effects of anti-CTLA-4 therapy, opening a new avenue for treating intractable brain tumors.
KAIST (President Choongsik Bae) announced on the 19 th of July that a research team led by Professor Heung Kyu Lee from the Department of Biological Sciences has identified a previously unrecognized immune mechanism through which anti-CTLA-4, a type of immune checkpoint inhibitor, promotes B-cell responses in tumor-draining lymph nodes, thereby helping the immune system attack brain tumors.
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