How our immune system kills abnormal blood cells
A team of researchers at the IRCM, led by Dr. Andr茅 Veillette, an adjunct professor at 缅北强奸 in the Faculty of Medicine explains how our immune system kills abnormal blood cells. Their discovery, recently published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, could eventually lead to new treatment avenues for leukemia, lymphoma and certain types of infectious viral diseases.
鈥淥ur team is studying how natural killer cells can eliminate abnormal hematopoietic (blood) cells,鈥� explains Dr. Veillette, Director of the Molecular Oncology research unit at the IRCM. 鈥淣K (natural killer) cells are crucial to the immune system and play a critical role in protecting us against viruses and cancer cells.鈥�
In a previous study, the IRCM researchers found the SAP molecule to be an essential component of NK cells鈥� ability to kill abnormal blood cells, which can be found in blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, as well as in certain infectious viral diseases like infectious mononucleosis.
鈥淚n addition to SAP, a protein called EAT-2 can also be found in NK cells,鈥� adds Dr. Veillette. 鈥淲e knew that EAT-2 cooperates with SAP, and, with this research project, we wanted to better understand why they are both required for the proper functioning of NK cells.鈥�
Using a variety of genetic, biochemical and imaging approaches, the researchers successfully defined the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which EAT-2 controls the activation of NK cells.
鈥淲e identified the molecular chain of events that occur, and showed that EAT-2 and SAP perform different functions using distinct mechanisms,鈥� says Dr. Veillette. 鈥淭hese findings explain the cooperative and essential function of these two molecules in activating NK cells, thereby allowing them to kill abnormal blood cells.鈥�
鈥淓AT-2 and SAP are molecules found inside NK cells, and they are linked to receptors of the SLAM family on the cell surface,鈥� concludes Dr. Veillette. 鈥淏ecause they can make better drug targets, our future work will focus on these receptors, which could eventually lead to identifying new potential treatment avenues for blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.鈥�
According to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada, one person in Canada is diagnosed with a blood cancer approximately every 28 minutes. In 2013, leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and myelodysplastic syndromes caused an estimated 6,850 deaths in the country. Leukemia and lymphoma also account for almost half of all childhood cancers (age 0-14 years).
About the study
Dr. Veillette鈥檚 research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute and the Canada Research Chairs program. The project was conducted at the IRCM by Luis-Alberto P茅rez-Quintero (first author of the study), Romain Roncagalli, Huaijian Guo, Dominique Davidson and Andr茅 Veillette, in collaboration with Sylvain Latour from the Institut des maladies g茅n茅tiques Imagine in Paris.
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For more information, please refer to the article summary published online by the Journal of Experimental Medicine: .
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