SYDNEY, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Australian oncologists have reported the discovery of a vital clue that could ultimately improve the treatment of blood cancers such as leukaemia and myeloma.
The researchers from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR Berghofer) and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center said their work sheds new light on a promising type of immunotherapy called T cell engaging bispecific therapy.
Dr Kyohei Nakamura from QIMR Berghofer said the therapy acted like a "missile control system" guiding the body's T cells to attack and eliminate blood cancer cells.
Prior to their research findings, published in Blood Advances and revealed on Thursday, it was unclear how the process actually worked, so Nakamura said unlocking its science could be a breakthrough to further develop the therapy.
The researchers found a comparatively rare cell, invariant natural killer T (iNKT), was like the "key that turns on the missile control system" enabling the immunotherapy to guide the T cells to target cancers.
The scientists said this means that by boosting iNKT cell numbers, the immunotherapy would become even more effective.
"Our research shows how important these iNKT cells are and their critical role in boosting the efficacy of the T cell engaging bispecific therapy," Nakamura said.
QIMR Berghofer's Mika Casey said iNKT cell numbers were ordinarily low in most people and were even fewer among cancer patients, but the cell numbers could be increased by using a vaccine.
"Boosting the numbers of these iNKT cells has been shown to be effective in patients with multiple myeloma," Casey said.
About 11,500 Australians are diagnosed with blood cancer every year and claim about 4,000 lives, according to the Australian Cancer Research Foundation. ■
