A protein called Meteorin-like (METRNL) in the tumor microenvironment saps energy from T cells , thereby severely limiting their ability to fight cancer, according to new research directed by investigators at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy . Finding ways to block the effects of METRNL signaling on tumor-infiltrating T cells may allow these immune cells to regain the energy necessary to eliminate tumors. A report about the work was published on August 6th, 2024 in the journal Immunity .
METRNL has been described in the medical literature before -; initially as playing a role in helping keep cold or exercising animals (and people) warm by poking holes in the mitochondria (energy factory) of fat cells so they produce heat. However, it had not previously been known to be active in cancer or in T cells, says lead study author Christopher Jackson, M.D.
, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. When T cells try to eliminate a tumor, the state of chronic stimulation/stress causes them to secrete METRNL, Jackson explains. Once METRNL is secreted, it interacts with the mitochondria and pokes holes in the electron transport chain, a cluster of proteins participating in a process to create energy.
When T cells can no longer keep up with their energy requirements, they stop trying to kill cancer cells, which enables cancer cells to multiply and spread. Ot.