Researchers have discovered that tumors release fatty acids that interfere with the cells that are trying to kill them. Consequently, strategies that reduce the amount of fatty acids surrounding the tumors may give a boost to anti-cancer therapeutics.
The details of these findings appear in the September issue of the Journal of Lipid Research, an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology journal.
Several forms of anti-cancer therapy rely on what is known as immunotherapeutic anti-cancer strategies, therapies that encourage the body's natural defenses, such as cytotoxic T lymphocytes, to aid in destroying tumors. However, immunotherapeutic methods are often not effective at removing established tumors for a number of reasons including a loss of the ability of the cytotoxic T lymphocytes to recognize the tumor and a physical barrier separating the lymphocytes and the tumor.
Now, Dr. Alan M. Kleinfeld and Clifford Okada of the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies in San Diego, CA, have added another reason to this list. They discovered that tumors secrete fatty acids which inhibit the cytotoxic T lymphocytes' ability to kill tumor cells.