New publication on the role of #macrophages in shaping the tumor #microenvironment in #cancer ... leading to the exploration of #adipose tissue and it's impact on #innateimmunity and #adaptiveimmunity in #ovariancancer to the point where resistancr to #immunotherapy is observed. These findings are then put into action for patient stratification, showing the utility in #radiology and #medicaloncology and #oncology #Science #medicine #immunology

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-026-02594-8

Within tumors in the human body, there are #immune #cells ( #macrophages ) capable of fighting cancer,
but they have been unable to perform their roles properly due to suppression by the tumor.

KAIST researchers have overcome this limitation by developing a new therapeutic approach that directly ⚠️converts immune cells inside tumors into anticancer cell therapies.

KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee announced on the 30th that a research team led by Professor Ji-Ho Park of the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering has developed a therapy in which,
when a drug is injected directly into a tumor, macrophages already present in the body absorb it, produce CAR
(a #cancer-#recognizing device) proteins on their own...
and are converted into anticancer immune cells known as "#CAR-#macrophages."

❌Solid tumors—such as gastric, lung, and liver cancers—grow as dense masses, making it difficult for immune cells to infiltrate tumors or maintain their function.

As a result, the effectiveness of existing immune cell therapies has been limited.

✅ CAR-macrophages,
which have recently attracted attention as a next-generation immunotherapy,
have the advantage of directly engulfing cancer cells while simultaneously activating surrounding immune cells to amplify anticancer responses.

⛔️However, conventional CAR-macrophage therapies require immune cells to be extracted from a patient's blood, followed by cell culture and genetic modification.

This process is time-consuming, costly, and has limited feasibility for
real-world patient applications.

To address this challenge, the research team focused on "#tumor-#associated #macrophages" that are already accumulated around tumors.

⭐️They developed a strategy to directly reprogram immune cells in the body by loading lipid nanoparticles
—designed to be readily absorbed by macrophages
—with both mRNA encoding
cancer-recognition information
and an immunostimulant that activates immune responses.

In other words, in this study,
CAR-macrophages were created by
👉"directly converting the body's own macrophages into anticancer cell therapies inside the body."
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260102/New-therapeutic-approach-converts-immune-cells-inside-tumors-into-anticancer-cell-therapies.aspx

Macrophages sense and adapt. Immuno-mechanics meets cancer research.

Roberto Amadio highlights recent work from Wenyan Xie and colleagues.

Roberto: “The huge amount of data (…) is of high value not only to cancer biologists, but also to cell biologists and clinicians”.

#preLight ⬇️ 👀

👉 https://prelights.biologists.com/highlights/an-immunomechanical-checkpoint-pyk2-governs-monocyte-to-macrophage-differentiation-in-pancreatic-cancer/

#biology #biomechanics #immunosuppression #macrophages #cancer #pyk2

What do #macrophages do in solid #cancers ? Many hypotheses are around for these versatile #cells... Here is some data on how the specifics of tumor cell death can lead to an effect on the interleukin-1 signalling axis. #immunotherapy could go new ways by utilizing these insights in #oncology @chfloudas #science #health

https://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108(24)00402-1