Tetracycline Antibiotics Enhance Immune System’s Ability to Target Cancer Cells

Healthcare professionals perform immunotherapy on people who have cancer. In cancer, tumor cells grow and spread by hiding from the person’s immune system. This therapy boosts a person’s immune system and helps find these hidden tumor cells. Even though this therapy reduces the risk of death in many people with cancer, it is not helpful for some. That’s why researchers from Osaka University conducted a study to understand whether antibiotics can help the immune system find and destroy tumor cells.   

In a study published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, researchers have found that tetracycline antibiotics work more effectively than immunotherapy in people with cancer as they boost the immune system to target tumor cells. In this study, researchers used the tetracycline antibiotic named minocycline in patients with lung cancer.   

When researchers thoroughly collected and observed the data, they found that tumor cells usually make an immunosuppressive protein called gelatine-1, which helps them hide from the immune system. However, when they used minocycline antibiotics, they saw that the immune cells called T lymphocytes started attacking and destroying the tumor cells.   

When researchers studied how these T lymphocytes worked, they found that this antibiotic helped specific signals in T lymphocytes to become stronger and made them destroy tumor cells effectively. They also tested these antibiotics on mice with cancer and found they were effective.  

The findings of this research are very important as they show that antibiotics can help people with cancer. Healthcare professionals can use this antibiotic for patients who do not respond well to immunotherapy.  

Researchers say these findings can help healthcare professionals make effective strategies and treatments for cancer. Even though these findings are positive, there is a need for further research to understand more about how these antibiotics help the immune system fight cancer. 

Reference Link:   

Mari Tone et al., Tetracyclines enhance antitumor T-cell immunity via the Zap70 signaling pathway, Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (2024).   

DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2023-008334