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Surgery can prevent the immune system from attacking cancers


June 29, 2016



Surgery is one of the main treatments for cancer, but the disease often comes back or spreads after the operation. A study led by Dr. Rebecca Auer suggests that this may be because major surgery suppresses the immune system, particularly the cancer-killing white blood cells called CD8+ T-cells. The team found that these cells were unable to attack tumours immediately after surgery. When mice were immunized with an anti-cancer vaccine, the CD8+ T-cells attacked their cancer and 100 percent of the mice were cured. However, when similarly immunized mice underwent a major abdominal surgery, they all developed flank tumours and died. The team also found that giving mice with cancer the anti-cancer immune agent IFNα before surgery significantly extended their survival afterwards, potentially restoring their lost immunity. The results were published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Co-authors: Abhirami A. Ananth, Lee-Hwa Tai1, Casey Lansdell, Almohanad A. Alkayyal, Katherine E. Baxter, Leonard Angka, Jiqing Zhang, Christiano Tanese de Souza, Kyle B. Stephenson, Kelley Parato, Jonathan L. Bramson, John C. Bell, Brian D. Lichty, Rebecca C. Auer

Funders: Terry Fox Research Institute, New Investigator Award; Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship; Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, Innovation and Innovation to Impact Grant, Cancer Research Society


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