Immunotherapy reshaped the immune environment of lymph nodes in a melanoma model — News-Medical
Researchers at Mayo Clinic found in a preclinical melanoma model that immune checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy can alter the immune environment of lymph nodes to which the tumor has spread. As News-Medical reports, after treatment the scientists also recorded a reduction in the volume of metastatic tumor in these nodes.
Changes in immune cells
The scientists studied lymph nodes that drain lymph from the area surrounding the tumor. They combined imaging methods with cellular analysis and gene expression analysis to determine the cellular composition, their location, and changes after therapy.
The treatment changed the organization of T cells, B cells, myeloid cells, and cells that form the structural framework of the lymph node. The researchers identified the most notable changes in macrophages — immune cells that usually clear the body of damaged and dead cells but can suppress the immune response under the influence of a tumor.
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The role of macrophages
After immunotherapy, macrophages showed signs of transitioning to a state that more actively stimulates the immune response. The researchers also observed greater spatial separation between macrophages and T cells. In their view, this may weaken the suppressive interaction between these cells.
Checkpoint inhibitors block signals that can restrain the activity of immune cells, helping them recognize and attack cancer. The authors of the study, published in Communications Biology, note that the effectiveness of this therapy may depend not only on the activation of T cells but also on the environment in which different immune cells can work together to counter the tumor.
At the same time, the researchers stressed that the work was conducted in a preclinical model that does not fully reproduce the development and spread of melanoma in humans. Further research is needed to determine whether the same changes occur in patients and how they are related to the response to treatment.
