Researchers at Saint Louis University’s School of Medicine have identified a link between T-cell dysfunction and an increased risk of cancer in obese populations. The study, led by Teague and co-authored by Alex Piening, a graduate student at SLU, was published in Nature Communications. It found that obesity-related T-cell dysfunction hinders the ability of these cells to detect tumor cells, resulting in a higher risk of tumor development when exposed to carcinogens.
Teague’s team is investigating the metabolic dysfunctions associated with obesity that affect T-cell function. Their research aims to identify barriers to effective cancer immunotherapy and develop strategies to improve patient outcomes. The team also examines how obesity impacts the success of immunotherapies.
“Immunotherapy boosts a patient’s immune system by targeting T cells and reinvigorating them. Paradoxically, immunotherapy is often more successful in patients with obesity, where the immune system isn’t functioning quite as well,” Teague explained. “Our research explains this paradox by showing that in the setting of obesity, developing tumors are only required to escape a weakened immune system. Such outgrown tumors are not well adapted to evade the reinvigorated T cells elicited during immunotherapy, and thus, are more easily destroyed.”
The study utilized single-cell RNA sequencing technology to understand what occurs inside individual immune cells within tumors. “We learned that the dysfunction in these T cells lies in their inability to kill tumors. Those genes were not being turned on. It also lies in their inability to acquire the metabolic functions needed to sustain anti-tumor activity,” Teague stated.
SLU’s investment in single-cell RNA sequencing technology has enabled significant advancements in studying cancer and the immune system within its Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology.
