Publication highlights

Researchers at the Crick and Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, have shown that the amount of a protein called CD74 can indicate which people with bowel cancer may respond best to immunotherapy. Bowel cancer falls into two categories: a deficient subtype and proficient subtype, and immunotherapy isn't yet used to treat both subtypes. The team found that three types of immune cells needed to be present for the tumour to respond to treatment: T cells, NK cells and macrophages. When all three were present and near to cancer cells, the T cells produced interferons, triggering a signal in macrophages and tumour cells. The researchers then found that a measurable component of this signal was a protein called CD74. This finding was mirrored in clinical trial data, showing that people who responded to immunotherapy had significantly higher levels of CD74. Therefore measuring CD74 levels could predict whether someone will respond to immunotherapy regardless of subtype.