Neutrophils key to harnessing anti-tumor immune response from RT

Heidihill

Study using mice, but radiation and G-CSF (Neulasta, Neupogen, etc.) are already mainstays of our treatment.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160921155655.htm

Study results show that neutrophils, the most abundant white blood cell in the body, are key players in the radiation-induced anti-tumor immune response. In the absence of radiotherapy, cancer cells transform neutrophils into tumor-associated neutrophils or TANs to help promote cancer cell growth. Radiation therapy, in addition to destroying TANs, recruits new neutrophils into the tumor. The radiation-induced neutrophils (RT-Ns) attack the tumor cells by producing molecules that damage them. The study further demonstrates how RT-Ns are also key players in generating a downstream tumor-specific, T cell-mediated anti-tumor immune response.

Importantly, the researchers were able to discover a way to enhance the tumor killing capacity of the RT-Ns by administering G-CSF (Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor), a naturally occurring protein (cytokine) in the body that stimulates bone marrow to produce more white blood cells including neutrophils. In the clinic, G-CSF is widely used to treat blood cell deficiencies in patients receiving chemotherapy. Researchers found that the combination of G-CSF and RT-Ns potentiated the anti-tumor immune response, presumably by inducing a more robust neutrophil response.

Fallleaves

Very interesting. Here's an article on the negative role G-CSF can play:

Invasive breast cancer reprograms early myeloid differentiation in the bone marrow to generate immunosuppressive neutrophils

http://www.pnas.org/content/112/6/E566.full

I guess it could all be about timing!