Scientists reveal how blood cancer cells evade the immune system

Scientists from Lund University (Sweden) discovered that the protein SLAMF6 allows acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells to evade attacks from the immune system. The research results were published in the journal Nature Cancer.

Acute myeloid leukemia is an aggressive form of blood cancer in which malignant cells rapidly multiply in the bone marrow, displacing healthy cells. Current treatments such as chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation are often insufficiently effective.

The researchers conducted a detailed analysis of proteins on the surface of cancer stem cells — through which the tumor interacts with its environment. Comparing data with samples from healthy individuals, they identified the protein SLAMF6, present only on malignant cells.

To understand the role of this protein, they used the gene-editing method CRISPR/Cas9 to precisely switch off or modify genes. It turned out that SLAMF6 helps cancer cells hide from T-cells — immune system fighters that normally destroy tumors.

In an additional experiment, scientists created a special antibody to block SLAMF6. When the protein stopped working, immune cells began to “see” the tumor again and effectively destroyed it — both in the lab and in test mice.

“It was like turning the immune system back on and taking away the cancer cells’ ability to hide,” explained Carl Sandén, one of the study’s authors.

The team is now working on improving the antibody and preparing for clinical trials. This discovery could be a major step toward new, more precise treatments for therapy-resistant leukemia.