A new research study has shown that cancer cells can actively alter the behaviour of certain immune cells in ways that help tumours grow and create conditions that support cancer progression.
The study, involving scientists from the University of Geneva and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Switzerland and published in the journal Cancer Cell, found that neutrophils — a type of white blood cell usually involved in defending the body against infections — can change their activity after entering the tumour microenvironment. When neutrophils encounter cancer cells, they begin to produce a signalling molecule called CCL3, which was linked to the tumour’s ability to grow and progress.
Laboratory experiments showed that neutrophils lacking the capacity to express CCL3 still accumulated within tumour tissue but did not adopt the altered behaviour associated with promoting tumour growth. This suggests that cancer-driven changes in immune cells are not simply a result of their presence in tumour tissue but are driven by specific molecular signals from the cancer cells themselves. By analysing data from independent studies across different cancer types, the researchers found that this immune cell reprogramming mechanism may be a more widespread feature of tumour biology.
The findings add to a growing body of evidence that tumours exploit normal immune processes to evade destruction by the body’s defences and may create a tumour-supportive microenvironment that helps cancer cells survive, expand and spread.
Understanding these interactions between cancer cells and immune cells could offer new avenues for developing therapies that reverse or block tumour-associated changes in immune function, potentially improving the effectiveness of future cancer treatments.
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