Under normal circumstances, the immune system recognizes and fights cancer cells, then eliminates them. However, sometimes this process can fail to form a tumor. Researchers at the Texas A&M Health Sciences Center found that when cancer cells block the function of the NLRC5 gene, they can escape the immune system and proliferate.
NLRC5 regulates major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I genes. These genes encode molecules on the cell surface that present fragments of foreign proteins, such as proteins from viruses or bacteria. These protein fragments inform a portion of the immune system, called cytotoxic T cells, to trigger an immediate response from the immune system against this particular foreign antigen.
The new findings of this study showed the same system should strive to destroy cancer cells, but sometimes they can find a way to disable the NLRC5 gene, allowing them to escape the immune system and form tumors. "If MHC class I antigens do not work, cancer cells will not be killed by T cells," the researchers said. "We found that various mechanisms in cancer reduce the function and expression of NLRC5, and as a result, tumor cell escapes from the immunity system."
Biopsy results from 7747 solid tumor patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database showed that the expression of NLRC5 gene is highly correlated with the survival rate of various cancer patients, especially melanoma, rectal cancer, bladder cancer, Cervical and head and neck cancers, patients with longer survival tend to have more NLRC5 expression.
"NLRC5 is an important biomarker for cancer. We can predict how long cancer patients can survive and how cancer treatment works for them." The researchers said: "NLRC5 can be a novel biomarker for cancer patients' survival and therapeutic response. It is also a potential target for new therapies."
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