According to a preclinical study conducted by Weill Cornell Medicine researchers, it may soon be feasible to detect whether individuals with hepatocellular carcinoma, a kind of liver cancer , may benefit from immunotherapy . The work, published on October 17 in Molecular Cell, sheds fresh light on a pair of proteins known as p62 and NBR1, and their conflicting roles in regulating the interferon response in hepatic stellate cells, an important immunological component in the liver's fight against tumours. The study shows that high amounts of the immune-suppressing NBR1 in these specialised cells can help identify patients who are unlikely to respond to immunotherapies.
It also reveals that NBR1-lowering techniques can decrease tumours in animal models, indicating a potential new therapy option for the subgroup of patients who do not "P62 and NBR1 are yin and yang," said the study's co-principal investigator Dr. Jorge Moscat, the Homer T. Hirst III Professor of Oncology in Pathologyand a member of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.
"In contrast to NBR1, if p62 is high in hepatic stellate cells, a patient is protected from cancer, but if it is low, the immune system is knocked down. If NBR1 is high, the immune system is impaired, but if NBR1 is low, the immune response increases." Until recently, patients with hepatocellular carcinoma had few treatment options, and those that were available extended life by only a few months.
Immunotherapy has of.
