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Using the Immune System to Fight Off Cancer Growth

An intact immune system is necessary to keep living creatures safe from disease, and in the last decade or so, a number of immune-based therapies and antitumor vaccines have shown promise for stimulating immune responses against tumor antigens to improve patient outcomes.                   

Human interleukin-15, or IL-15, which is a protein involved in initiating the immune system, has been studied for the treatment of patients with melanoma, a type of skin cancer, and kidney cancer. In some of our published studies, we examined the effectiveness of a vaccination targeting tumors that produced IL-15 and its cell surface receptor called IL-15R-alpha to determine their ability to increase immune responses to tumor.

We showed that the presence of both IL-15 with its receptor IL-15R-alpha increased the cell-surface production and secretion of IL-15, and in turn, reduced the size of tumors in mice, meaning that we potentially found a vaccine that could initiate the immune response to fight cancer.

Using IL-15 to develop a whole tumor cell vaccine to target lung, breast and prostate cancer cells in animal models, our results showed that tumor cells stopped growing after the vaccine was introduced and that beneficial effects were enhanced when IL-15R-alpha was co-produced by the vaccine cells. 

The vaccination with modified tumor cells producing IL-15 and IL-15R-alpha slowed tumor growth and led to increased survival for animal models, and the cells that control the immune responses—known as “killer” T-cells and NK cells—were elevated in these tumors, showing evidence of an immune response.

IL-15 is a powerful pro-inflammatory protein that can enhance immune responses, and this research suggests that genetically altering tumor cells to produce IL-15 and IL-15R-alpha can cause and enhance immune responses to tumor antigens found in these tumor cells and can be used as a vaccine to target these antigens.

These exciting discoveries have led to the investigation of a vaccine in human lung cancer clinical trials; I am leading the arm at UC. We will continue to look for ways to use the human immune system to effectively fight off cancer growth.

 

For more information:

Go to the Lung Cancer health topic.