Keyword: Cancer research

Through immunotherapies utilising Immune Checkpoint Blockers (ICB), advanced solid cancers can today be treated with unprecedented efficacy. However, not all patients respond positively to these treatments. InFLAMES researcher, Docent Carlos Rogerio Figueiredo and his team are working to uncover the underlying causes of this resistance to ICB. They focus on patients suffering from malignant melanomas and lung cancers as main research models. 

New study from researchers in Finland and the United Kingdom reveals that tumors lacking a protein called BAP1 have an ineffective immune reaction against cancer, thus rendering immunotherapies ineffectual, particularly in uveal melanomas (UM). The researchers also discovered that when BAP1 is lost, other molecules will be present in order to support cancer growth. Luckily, some of these molecules can be targeted with existing drugs, which can lead to the development of novel immunotherapies.

Researchers at the University of Turku, Turku University Central Hospital, and Western Cancer Center (FICAN West) have discovered a new RNA molecule, PRECSIT, which regulates the growth and invasion of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. In the future, PRECSIT could potentially serve as a new marker for the detection of rapidly advancing or spreading squamous cell carcinoma and as a target for new therapies.

With the help of new technology, the researchers of the University of Turku have gained more detailed information on the diversity of the human lymphatic system than before. The research results can help to understand the human defence mechanisms on the molecular level even better than before. Several cancers, such as breast cancer and head and neck cancers, spread primarily via the lymphatic system.

Common and rare SORLA single nucleotide polymorphisms have been associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease. So far, SORLA has been mainly studied in neurons, but the new study focused on the role of SORLA in cancer cells. Led by Academy Professor Johanna Ivaska, the research group observed that SORLA was highly expressed in HER2 positive cancers. Removing SORLA from cancer cells severely impaired the oncogenic fitness of HER2 positive cancers.

According to a new research, circulating tumor DNA can be used to detect treatment options for ovarian cancer patients who don’t benefit from chemotherapy.

Contrary to prior belief, the white blood cells enter the spleen primarily via vessels in the red pulp. The research results change thoroughly our perception of the spleen producing antibodies vital for the human body.

Developed by researchers at the University of Turku, an immunotherapeutic antibody therapy re-educates macrophages to activate passivated cytotoxic T cells to kill cancer. The antibody therapy prevented the growth of tumours in several mouse models. The development of the therapy has now progressed to patient testing in a phase I/II clinical trial.