Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center have identified a strong association between the product of a gene expressed in most cancers, including the most common type of head and neck cancer, and elevated levels of white blood cells that produce antibodies within tumors.
The findings, published in the March 10, 2023 issue of PNAS Nexus, suggest a potential new target and approach for cancer immunotherapies that have thus far produced mixed results for certain head and neck cancers.
Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is an antigen abundantly produced in roughly 85% of tumor cells. Antigens are toxins or other substances that provoke an immune response against that substance. This is especially true with TERT in cancer patients.
But the effects of TERT expression on regulation of adaptive immunity within tumors is not understood. In the new study, co-senior study author Maurizio Zanetti, MD, professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine and head of the Laboratory of Immunology at Moores Cancer Center, and colleagues used RNA sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas.
Specifically, Zanetti, Carter and their collaborators looked at 11 solid tumor types to investigate potential interactions between TERT expression and B and T cells that have infiltrated the tumor microenvironment.
The researchers found a positive correlation between TERT expression and B and T cells in four cancer types, with the strongest association in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, a condition that develops in the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and throat.
They found that patients in which this association was found are linked to more favorable clinical outcomes. The findings, said Zanetti, suggest the de novo formation of lymphoid structures intra-tumor by B and T lymphocytes with TERT as potential connecting antigen.
