New immune system discovery could boost cancer treatment effectiveness
31 January 2025
New research led by Peter Mac and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity has uncovered a way to enhance our immune system to better fight cancer and lead to more effective treatments for patients.
The study, published in Science Immunology, focused on a specific type of immune cell (T cell), marked by a protein called ID3, that are better at fighting off infections and cancer compared to other immune cells. However, despite the clinical significance of these cells, scientists still don’t fully understand how they develop or what triggers their function.
The research, led by Professor Ricky Johnstone and Dr Dane Newman in collaboration with the Doherty Institute, found that these ID3+ T cells are uniquely suited to handle the challenges posed by long-term infections or cancer by maintaining a powerful immune response much longer than other T cells that don’t express ID3.
“Critically, these unique progenitor T cells also underpin the therapeutic wave of T cell activity following immunotherapy, a treatment approach that uses the body’s immune system to fight cancer,” Professor Johnstone said.
“Our study demonstrated that ID3-expressing T cells were uniquely adapted to the rigours of chronic stimulation, with ID3+ T cells better able to deliver prolonged and sustained immune responses in comparison to ID3-negative equivalents.”
The research also revealed that certain signals in the body could help increase the number of these ID3+ T cells, offering a potential new way to improve cancer treatments.
“We also discovered that ID3+ T cell formation could be promoted by specific inflammatory cues, potentially offering new strategies for expanding numbers of these cell types in cancer patients and subsequently improving clinical immunotherapy outcomes,” Dr Newman said.
“This could lead to better treatments for cancer patients by boosting the number of immune cells that are already very good at fighting cancer.”
The University of Melbourne’s Catarina Gago da Graça, PhD Candidate at the Doherty Institute, said the research highlights how ID3+ T cells hold the key to overcoming one of the biggest challenges in treating chronic diseases—immune exhaustion.
“ID3+ T cells have the remarkable ability to resist burnout and maintain a powerful immune response over time, making them particularly effective in the face of chronic infections or cancer,” co-first author, Gago da Graça, said.
The University of Melbourne’s Dr Daniel Utzschneider, Laboratory Head at the Doherty Institute, said the findings could lead to advancements in immunotherapy treatments and the development of vaccines that provide long-lasting protection.
“This research provides a roadmap for how we might reinvigorate the immune system to improve health outcomes for people living with cancer or chronic infections like HIV or hepatitis B and C, thanks to these stem-like T cells, the immune system’s secret power,” Dr Utzschneider said.
This research is the result of a collaborative effort between the Doherty Institute, Peter Mac, La Trobe University, Northwestern University (USA), the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, the University of Birmingham (UK) and the University of Melbourne.