Immunotherapy is a key component of cancer treatment, aiming to empower the body’s immune system to fight against tumors. A recent study has discovered that by removing certain enzymes that regulate epigenetic processes from dendritic cells, a type of immune system cell, their development can be influenced to enhance anti-tumor immunity. This breakthrough could potentially lead to the development of new therapeutic approaches in the field of immunotherapy. The research was conducted by Cristiano De Sá Fernandes from Maria Sibilia’s research group at the Center for Cancer Research and the Comprehensive Cancer Center of MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital, and the results were published in Cell Reports.
Cancer cells are problematic because they originate from the body’s own cells that have malfunctioned and lost their normal growth and functioning patterns. Due to this origin, the immune system often struggles to recognize these cells as threats, making them difficult to combat. Immunotherapy addresses this issue by training the immune system to identify cancer cells and activate its natural defense mechanisms. Dendritic cells are crucial components of the immune system that can differentiate into various subgroups by modifying their gene activity. However, the impact of specific epigenetic changes in chromatin on dendritic cell development remains unclear.
The researchers focused on inhibiting two enzymes, HDAC1 and HDAC2, which regulate epigenetic processes, to study their effect on dendritic cell development. By using multi-omics analyses to study gene expression and chromatin accessibility, they discovered that the absence of HDAC1 significantly hindered the development of certain dendritic cell subsets. This highlighted the critical role of HDAC1 in dendritic cell development and revealed that the altered immune response resulting from its removal could enhance the surveillance of tumors. Interestingly, removing HDAC2 did not have a substantial impact on dendritic cell development.
In conclusion, the research findings demonstrate that targeting HDAC1 can significantly impact the development of specific dendritic cell subsets, leading to improved anti-tumor immunity. These results have the potential to revolutionize therapeutic strategies in cancer immunotherapy by providing new insights into how epigenetic regulation influences immune responses. The study was part of the FWF-funded PhD program DocFunds “Tissue Home,” with Cristiano de Fernandes as the primary author of the study. This discovery opens up new possibilities in the field of immunotherapy, offering hope for more effective treatments for cancer patients in the future.