Israeli researchers and their colleagues from the United States developed an antibody-based treatment that empowers the body’s immune system to effectively attack cancer cells and prevent their spread, Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) said in a statement on Monday.WIS-led scientists revealed that a form of breast cancer known as triple-negative breast cancer encourages nearby immune cells to form “molecular bridges.” These bridges prevent immune cells from attacking the tumor, resulting in immune suppression.
The research team demonstrated that an antibody treatment blocking the formation of these bridges can revive the immune system’s ability to mount a robust attack on cancer cells, halting tumor progression in mouse models. They explained that while the breast cancer cells themselves express very low levels of the protein CD84, which is used to build the bridges, they induce nearby immune cells to produce large quantities of this protein, creating the bridges that suppress the immune response.