Cell magazine recently published the research results of Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Researchers believe that tumor immunotherapy will be more effective if used in combination with drugs that inhibit NF-kB.

The results of the 141009 study revealed that the interaction between cancer cells and non-cancer cells promotes tumor development. The researchers said: "We have long known that NF-kB promotes the development of cancer by inhibiting tumor cell's own apoptosis mechanism. The results of this study indicate that NF-kB may be expressed by coordinating a group of immunosuppressive genes, and the expression information makes Immune escape occurred in tumor cells."

Blocking NF-kB may make tumors more vulnerable to attack

The research team suggested that blocking NF-kB may make tumor cells more likely to be killed by the immune system.

In earlier experiments, researchers found that NF-kB can help normal cells repair the wrong DNA, thereby stopping its damage. But what is puzzling is that the same molecule behaves differently in tumor cells.

In the experiment, the researchers observed the performance of NF-kB in the early stages of embryonic development in living mice and mice.

They found that immune cells called macrophages migrate to the tumor in the early stages of tumor development and release tumor necrosis factor as expected to trigger cell death. However, NF-kB can make tumor cells survive the attack of macrophages.

NF-kB may also be involved in immune suppression

The researchers found that NF-kB can also regulate many genes related to immune suppression. When they turn off a certain gene in tumor cells with active NF-kB, immunosuppression no longer has any effect, and tumor growth begins to slow down.

Professor Guttridge concluded: "In general, our research results indicate that NF-kB may play a pivotal role in evading the supervision of innate immunity and adaptive immunity."

Full text link of Cell Magazine: http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(14)00725-6