Cells identified that enhance tumor growth and suppress anti-cancer immune attack

A study led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists has identified the population of white blood cells that tumors use to enhance growth and suppress the disease-fighting immune system. The results, which appear in Immunity, mark a turning point in cancer immunology and provide the foundation for developing more effective immunotherapies. Working in the laboratory and in mouse models of cancer, researchers on this study showed immune suppression associated with myeloid-derived suppressor cells is primarily the work of a type of white blood cells called monocytes. Read more here.