Spanish scientists discover a biomarker that could improve immunotherapy against glioblastoma

An investigation carried out by a team from the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) point to the activating receiver NKG2C as A possible predictive biomarker that could help identify which patients benefit more from immunotherapy against glioblastomaone of the most frequent brain tumors and with the worst prognosis.

In depth

The investigation, led by Pilar Sánchez Gómezof the functional research unit in chronic diseases (UFIEC) of the ISCIII And published in the magazine ‘Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer‘, has been funded from the ISCIII and has counted aid of the Spanish Association against Cancer.

Glioblastomas are one of brain tumors more frequentfor those that there are still no effective therapies. They are very aggressive cancers that are resistant to the treatments developed, so that the prognosis of the patients, which is treated with Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapyit is complicated and with a quite reduced half -life life expectancy.

More details

One of the most relevant research lines in recent years is study The tumor microenvironment, that is, the cellular and tissue environment that surrounds the tumor, and that influences the development and behavior of glioblastoma. In this context, they point out, “The research of new strategies, such as immunotherapies that has been quite successful in other types of cancers, is crucial“

Following this line, the UFIEC team of the ISCIII has focused on the analysis of the ‘Natural Killer’ cells (NK), A type of lymphocyte that is part of the first line of defense of the immune system. Thanks to the bioinformatics knowledge of the first author of the article, the doctor Olaya of Godand the group’s collaboration with the October 12 hospital, it has been discovered that some glioblastomas show a High expression of the NKG2C activator, encoded by the KLRC2 gene, in the tumor cells themselves.

To take into account

This finding is relevant Because it indicates that the presence of NKG2C in tumor cells could make these glioblastomas respond better to immunotherapies based on immune control points, such as PD-1 monoclonal antibodies. Thus, the ISCIII team has shown that NKG2C’s neoplastic expression is related to a reduction in the number of myeloid suppressor immune cells and with a higher level of lymphocytes in the tumor.

In addition, it has confirmed, both in animal model as in patients, greater antitumoral activity after treatment with PD-1 monoclonal antibodies in glioblastomas with greater expression of NKG2C. This discovery opens the door to use NKG2C as a predictive biomarker, helping Identify which patients could benefit more from immunotherapy, thus optimizing treatments and improving perspectives for those who suffer from this type of tumors.