Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis have identified a gene that pushes the immune system's cancer-killing T cells into a worn-out state, a major obstacle for immunotherapy. In mouse experiments published in Nature, deleting the gene, ZMYND8, from CD8+ T cells improved control of melanoma and chronic viral infection. Combining the deletion with existing immunotherapy approaches improved survival further.
The work speaks to a hard problem for families of children with cancer. Immunotherapy has improved survival for some adults and children, but it has had limited success against many pediatric solid tumors, partly because T cells become exhausted after long exposure to disease. The research is at the laboratory stage. No patients were treated, and no drug was tested.
