L12 - cancer immunology

Question 1

TRUE OR FALSE

Cancer cells can escape immune surveillance?

Answer 1

True
They have minimal antigens on the surface and are treated as self-antigens as they arise from our own cells. Tumours also secrete factors that suppress immune cells and can create barriers

Question 2

What are tumour associated macrophages?

Answer 2

Badly behaving macrophages.

M2-like: immunosup, pro-angiogenic, maintain T-regs, no AB-dep cell cytotoxicity

Question 3

What is active immunotherapy?

Answer 3

Vaccines that help host immune system to become responsive to cancer

Question 4

What is cell based therapy?

Answer 4

Activate patients immune system to attack the cancer
Can be used to deliver cytotoxic drugs
Usually dendritic cells

Question 5

What is the innate immune system?

Answer 5

Inborn, doesn’t depend on exposure to pathogen, rapid, invariant, limited specificity, constant during response
Macro, neutro, NK cells

Question 6

What is the adaptive immune system?

Answer 6

Long term immunity, slow, variable, highly selective, improves during response
APC, T cells and B cells

Question 7

What is the Trojan horse treatment?

Answer 7

The use of macrophages to get tumour killing virus into the tumours. Macrophages can infiltrate deep into the tumour. Macrophages can also be loaded with iron nanoparticles and then the tumours are treated while in an MRI scanner to target the macrophages to the tumour