Tumour immunology Flashcards
List some features of cancer cells.
Growth self-sufficiency
Evade apoptosis
Ignore anti-proliferative signals
Limitless replication potential
Sustained angiogenesis
Invade tissues
Escape immunosurveillance
Metastasise to other sites
What is meant by cancer immunosurveillance?
Immune system recognises and destroys transformed cells
What is meant by cancer immunoediting?
The immune system can kill or induce changes in tumour cells, because they tend to be genetically unstable
Name the two tumour antigens!
TSA: tumour specific antigens
TAA: tumour associated antigen
Which tumour antigen is found only on tumour cells?
TSA
Which tumour antigen is found on both tumour and normal cells?
TAA
What are TSAs? Where do they come from?
Antigens found only on tumour cells
They are derived from viral antigens, they are a result of mutations & gene rearrangement
What are TAAs? Where do they come from?
Antigens found on normal cells, but they are over-expressed on tumour cells
They are developmental antigens which become de-repressed
What is meant by ‘tumour escape’?
When immune responses change the tumour so that it can no longer be seen by the immune system
How can tumours use T cell function to their advantage?
They can promote TREG action, which supresses the immune system
What is active immunotherapy?
The augmentation of host immunity against tumours by using cytokines & co-stimulators
What is passive immunotherapy?
Culture cytotoxic T cells that will work against the tumour antigen in a lab and then transfer to a patient
What is a dendritic cell?
Antigen presenting cells
They detect and chew up foreign proteins and display them on their surface to present to T cells
Describe the ‘Trojan Horse’ theory.
Macrophages are attracted to tumours and can get right into the centre of them.
If we could engineer macrophages that can transport drug therapies to the centre of tumours we could better destroy them
