Experimental drugs show immuno-oncology benefits

UK scientists have shown how a class of experimental drug treatments could be used to help the body's immune system to fight cancer.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh, with backing from Cancer Research UK, have found that a protein called focal adhesion kinase (FAK), which is often overproduced in tumours, can enable cancer cells to elude attacks by the immune system.

Usually, FAK sends signals to help healthy cells to grow and move around, but it plays a different role in cancer cells, changing the nature of the immune system so that it protects the cancer cells rather than destroying them.

Thus, an experimental FAK inhibitor was shown to prevent this change, allowing the cancer cells to be treated as a threat. The principle was then demonstrated in studies using mice.

It marks the first time that FAK inhibitors, which are already in clinical trials, have been shown to influence the immune system.

Nell Barrie, senior science communications manager at Cancer Research UK, said: "This promising research suggests these drugs may be able to help the immune system to destroy cancer cells."