Enlisting the immune system in the fight against cancer

Dr. Maciej Lesniak, Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago, has used his Brain Research Foundation seed grant to help find a way to make the body’s immune system a powerful ally in the fight against cancer.

The immune system is a highly complex group of defense responses that protect against infection and disease by identifying and eradicating pathogens and tumor cells. Dr. Lesniak’s research focused on a specific component of the immune system: Treg cells, which suppress the immune response once it has successfully eliminated a pathogen. He discovered that Treg cells are abundant in intracranial cancer tissues, enabling the rapid growth of brain tumors. However, he discovered that using another part of the immune system—anti-CD25 monoclonal antibodies—to interfere with the action of Treg cells actually causes an immune response that destroys the tumor cells. Using this method, Dr. Lesniak was able to increase the survival rate of mice with intracranial tumors.

The ultimate goal of Dr. Lesniak’s research is to design therapies to increase the survival rate of patients with brain cancer. This novel treatment strategy will specifically target tumor cells and spare normal cells, which would be a major advancement in the treatment of the disease.
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