Study reveals role of gamma-delta T cells in cancer immunology

FLORIDA: The significance of gamma-delta T cells in 33 different cancer types is revealed in a recent study that was published in Cell Press. This information sheds light on the cells’ potential as clinical biomarkers and therapeutic targets in the treatment of cancer. This thorough examination, which was carried out under the direction of a group of Moffitt Cancer Center experts, marks a substantial breakthrough in our knowledge of these distinct immune cells and how they affect cancer therapy outcomes for patients.
Gamma-delta T cells are a minority in the T cell population, but they are becoming more and more valued for their capacity to activate both innate and adaptive immune responses. The gamma-delta T-cell receptor landscape across 11,000 tumors was analyzed by Moffitt researchers using a novel computational algorithm in collaboration with scientists at Dartmouth College and Duke University. The result is a comprehensive database that tracks the progression of cancer and its response to different treatments, most notably immunotherapy.
“It’s like finding a needle in a haystack,” said Xuefeng Wang, Ph.D., chair of Moffitt’s Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Department and the lead contact of the study. “After two years of effort screening approximately 700 billion tumor RNA sequencing reads, our algorithm distilled 3.2 million gamma-delta T-cell reads, highly informative for the study of gamma-delta T-cell clones. Our findings suggest that the diversity and clonality of gamma-delta T cells can significantly impact patient survival and treatment efficacy.”
As the study evolves, researchers will expand the database by incorporating additional T-cell receptor repertoires and functional annotations, including single-cell RNA sequencing analyses. This ongoing work aims to deepen our understanding of the functional roles of gamma-delta T cells in cancer and their interactions within the tumor microenvironment.
“This research not only expands our knowledge of gamma-delta T cells but also opens new avenues for therapeutic strategies,” Wang said. “By understanding the specific roles of these cells in different cancers, we can better tailor treatments to improve patient outcomes.”
The Immuno-Oncology Program and Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Shared Resources at Moffitt provided critical support and represent leading research expertise in computational immunology and personalized immunotherapy. (ANI)