Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered how long-lived killer cells, known as tissue-resident memory cells, are formed in the skin.
These specialized immune cells have the ability to remember infections they have previously encountered, enabling them to provide rapid protection.
Importantly, a higher number of these memory-killer cells in cancerous tissue was linked to better survival rates in patients with melanoma. The findings are published in the journal Immunity.
Link to Immunotherapy
These memory-killer cells are not only essential in protecting against infections and contributing to inflammatory skin disorders such as vitiligo and psoriasis but also play a role in the body’s immune response to various cancers.
Additionally, they have shown to respond to immunotherapy, a cancer treatment that stimulates the immune system, highlighting their potential in advancing cancer treatment.
However, understanding how these cells are formed is crucial for optimizing the therapy’s effectiveness.
“We don’t know so much about how and why memory killer cells are formed in the skin and what it means for cancer patients,” says Professor Yenan Bryceson at the Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet.
“Finding out how these cells develop enables us to contribute to the development of more efficacious immunotherapy for diseases like melanoma.”
Study Findings
Researchers Beatrice Zitti and Elena Hoffer led a study examining the formation and development of memory killer cells in human skin.
By examining T cells (a type of immune cell) isolated from the skin and blood of healthy volunteers, they identified specific T cells in the blood with the potential to become memory killer cells in the skin.
They also identified certain genes that were crucial for these cells’ maturation in the tissue.
The study further revealed that melanoma patients with a higher accumulation of these cells in the skin (epidermal memory killer cells) had better survival rates.
Future Implications
“We’ve been able to identify several factors that control the formation of memory killer cells, which play an important part in maintaining healthy skin,” says Liv Eidsmo, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen and at Karolinska Institutet.
“There’s a fine balance between effective protection against tumors and infections in the skin and contribution to inflammatory diseases like vitiligo and psoriasis.”
Armed with these new insights, the researchers aim to further optimize immunotherapy, enhancing the T cell response for even more effective elimination of cancer cells in tissues.
This collaborative study was conducted with Karolinska University Hospital, Nordiska Kliniken, and Vrinnevi Hospital.
If you care about skin health, please read studies about eating fish linked to higher risk of skin cancer, and Vitamin B3 could help prevent skin cancers.
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The study was published in Immunity.
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