Cancer ResearchUSC scientists engineer renewable immune progenitor cells that slow tumor growth in mice
Cancer immunotherapy often struggles because it is hard to manufacture enough immune cells and keep them active in the body. Scientists at the Keck School of Medicine of USC report a possible workaround in the journal Cell. They worked with immature immune cells called granulocyte-monocyte progenitors (GMPs) instead of mature ones. In the lab, these cells multiplied extensively while keeping their ability to become working immune cells. The team also genetically engineered them to recognize specific cancer markers and boost wider immune responses. When given to mice, the engineered cells settled in bone marrow, kept producing new immune cells, and slowed the progression of both blood cancers and solid tumors. The work also challenges the view that long-term self-renewal belongs mainly to hematopoietic stem cells. These results are preclinical and have not yet been tested in people, but they point toward renewable, ready-made cell therapies.
