Activating p53 Makes Cancer-Fighting T Cells Stronger and Longer-Lasting, UCLA Study Finds
The University of California, Los Angeles, in the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, announced on October 29 that researchers at its Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that temporarily activating p53, a protein best known for preventing cancer, during the preparation of engineered T cells makes those immune cells stronger and longer-lasting, offering a relatively simple way to improve existing cancer immunotherapies. The study was published in Frontiers in Immunology.
A key limit on T-cell therapy is exhaustion: infused T cells gradually lose their killing power. The team used the investigational drug navtemadlin to block MDM2, a protein that keeps p53 in check, and found that treated human CD8+ T cells showed fewer signs of exhaustion, held greater energy reserves, and killed melanoma cells in the laboratory significantly more effectively, pulling ahead after about 40 hours and keeping the advantage throughout. Dose mattered: lower concentrations promoted healthy memory T cells, while higher ones caused more cell death.
Senior author Joseph Crompton, an assistant professor of surgery at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, said this is one of the first studies to link p53 to T-cell exhaustion in humans; long known for preventing cancer, p53 may also help immune cells maintain their ability to fight it. The researchers noted the approach adds a drug step during cell preparation, with no additional genetic modification required.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: T细胞疗法示意图（资料图）。公共领域图片，Wikimedia Commons。 / An illustration of T-cell therapy (file image). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
