AI method enables more effective immunotherapy
Sanquin researchers used an AI method to decipher the code that controls protein production in immune cells. Their findings could benefit immunotherapy.
Immunotherapy is increasingly common for cancer treatment. Monika Wolkers (Sanquin, Oncode institute) and her group studies how immune cells regulate their protein production. These proteins are key tools for cell communication and for destroying cancer cells. Unfortunately, our immune cells often still lose out on cancer cells. This is in part because protein production lags behind. By increasing protein production, immunotherapy could therefore be more effective in the future.
Machine Learning
Monika and researcher Benoit Nicolet (currently working at the Netherlands Cancer Institute) have taken an important step forward. With Machine Learning, they have developed a method that can read the code on the messenger RNA. This code predicts the amount of protein that is produced by the immune cells. Monika: “All factors that we now know are important have been included.” Messenger RNA (mRNA), also known as messenger RNA, ensures that the genetic blueprint, the DNA, is translated into proteins. This means that every cell in our body produces exactly the proteins that it needs at a given moment in time. If a lot of a protein is needed, a cell produces a huge number of copies of mRNA for it. This is particularly important for immune cells, because they need to produce proteins at a rapid pace in the event that pathogens invade our body, or when a tumor arises. This rapid response allows immune cells to do their job and to keep us healthy.
New territory
"But the mRNA to protein translation isn't one-to-one," Monika explains. "There's much more to it." Sanquin researchers have studied how T cells fine-tune protein production for years, and they have accumulated a good amount of knowledge on it. “By using this AI method, we have now explored another, broader area.” By unraveling the code for protein production, immunotherapies could become more potent.
T cell therapy implications
Immune cells are increasingly being modified for immunotherapy. Such as with T cells, which are genetically altered to find and destroy specific cancer cells. The researchers have shown in their study that their newly acquired knowledge can make immunotherapies more effective. It can also be applied in other fields of research, because the method can be valuable for all kinds of cell types.