A team of Southampton scientists have made a breakthrough that could make treatment more effective for cancer patients. 

The aim of the University of Southampton study, funded by Cancer Research UK and Gilead Sciences Inc, is to enable people to respond better to immunotherapy – a type of cancer treatment that supercharges the body’s immune system to kill cancer cells.

Currently, a large number of patients do not respond well to immunotherapy, so the £1.4m study, led by Professor Gareth Thomas, has been examining the types of cells that surround tumours – cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs)- to find out exactly what stops the treatment from working and if there are any characteristics that could be enhanced to make treatment work more effectively.

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Using tissue samples donated by patients from Poole General Hospital, the team used state of the art sequencing technology that analyses individual cells in cancers. In an exciting development, the team has identified a different type of fibroblast that may help the body’s immune system attack tumours. Now it’s hoped this feature could be replicated in patients’ cancers to make immunotherapy work more effectively.

Prof Gareth Thomas, Professor of Experimental Pathology at the University of Southampton, said: “We have spent a long time studying the types of cells that stop immunotherapy from working properly, and we already knew there was a certain type of cancer-associated fibroblast that blocks the body’s anti-tumour immune response.

“In this study, we decided to do the opposite, and try to get a better understanding of cells that actively support anti-tumour immunity. To do this we started by analysing head and neck cancers caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), a type of cancer known to produce a strong immune response that is associated with longer survival.

“Excitingly, in these cancers we found a type of fibroblast that we think helps stimulate anti-cancer immunity. We also found this cell in other cancer types and have shown that patients whose cancers contain lots of these cells have a much better response to immunotherapy.

“Our team has worked out what makes these cells form and can now do this in the lab. Our next step is to work out whether we can use this information to develop a treatment that supercharges a patient’s response to cancer immunotherapy, giving them a better chance of beating this disease.”