Member-only story
Tumors Hide From the Immune System by Masquerading as Baby Cells
Single cell sequencing reveals liver cancer’s sneaky trick
The immune system is programmed to recognize foreign bodies as potentially dangerous, promptly removing them before the intruders can cause the body harm. However, the immune system “tolerates” certain foreign tissues, such as a fetus developing in the womb, for example.
For these nine months, the maternal and fetal immune systems coexist in a symbiotic relationship, with soluble and cell-surface molecules produced by the fetus thought to facilitate this mutual tolerance by suppressing the maternal immune system.
In a scientific study published in the journal Cell, researchers identified that liver tumor cells can shield themselves from the immune system by disguising themselves as fetal cells and employing similar immunosuppressive tactics. This strategy allows the cancer cells to thrive and spread without interference.
Immunologists mapped the genetic profiles of around 200,000 individual human liver cells that were extracted from both developing fetuses and hepatocellular carcinomas, a deadly form of liver cancer. They used single-cell RNA sequencing, a technique that allowed the scientists to identify parallels in the gene expression profiles between the two liver cell types.
