British scientists say they may have discovered how a childhood brain cancer can defeat efforts to tackle it with immune-system based therapies.
Researchers had hoped that the distinctiveness of neuroblastoma cells would make them a simple target for an immune therapy.
But the latest findings show how the disease is already geared to fend of immune system attacks.
It works by stripping away the energy sources that keep the immune cells active.
According to the latest findings, immune system cells become "lethargic and ineffective" when they approach the cancer.
Now scientists at Birmingham University, UK, hope the discovery will open up new ways to make immune therapies work.
Their discovery, reported in the journal Cancer Research, centres on the substance arginine, which is a key energy source for immune cells.
Neuroblastoma cells make a chemical called arginase, which triggers a reduction in arginine levels in their vicinity.
Researcher Dr Francis Mussai said: “We’ve known for a while that harnessing the power of the immune system could be an effective way to treat neuroblastoma. But we didn’t know why the immune cells were having such difficulty recognising and destroying the tumour.
“Armed with this new knowledge about the role of arginine, we may be able to activate the immune system to attack cancer cells.”
Eleanor Barrie, of Cancer Research UK, which backed the research, said it could have "huge implications."
Mussai, F., et al. Neuroblastoma arginase activity creates an immunosuppressive microenvironment that impairs autologous and engineered immunity. Cancer Research 1 August 2015; doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-14-3443
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