Science & Technology, UK (Commonwealth Union) – Hodgkin lymphoma is a form of cancer impacting the lymphatic system, which is part of the immune system. It is characterized by the presence of abnormal cells called Reed-Sternberg cells, which are large, malignant cells found in the lymph nodes. Hodgkin lymphoma was first described by Dr. Thomas Hodgkin, British physician in 1832, and since then, it has been extensively studied and treated.
The most common symptom of Hodgkin lymphoma is the swelling of one or more lymph nodes, which is usually painless. Other symptoms are usually fever, night sweats, fatigue, weight loss, and itching. In some cases, patients may experience pain after consuming alcohol. If left untreated, Hodgkin lymphoma can spread to other parts of the body, including the spleen, liver, bone marrow, and lungs.
One of the broadest studies to date on blood cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, has given captivating insights into how tumor cells adapt for survival. Scientists from the Wellcome Sanger Institute noted that cancer cells make use of signals to attract certain types of immune cells and give instructions to them not to attack.
The findings that were published in Blood, further discovered that elevated concentrations of these cell clusters from present sample data predicted the failure of chemotherapy. These details maybe utilized to speed up the journey onto precision medicine and mark patients who may have an advantage from newer immune-based therapies, which may have greater success in situations where traditional treatments are unable to treat the condition as indicated by researchers.
Hodgkin lymphoma has approximately 2,100 diagnoses within the UK annually. For patients who are unable to respond to chemotherapy, radiotherapy or a combination of both, the upside is that these patients often respond well to more recent treatments such as ‘immune checkpoint inhibitors’, especially PD-1 blockers2.
The recent research had seen, scientists bring together multiple way for exploring the immune microenvironment surrounding Hodgkin lymphoma tumors in great detail.
Single-cell sequencing and spatial transcriptomic obtained at the Hodgkin lymphoma and healthy lymph node tissue were produced at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, in marking the genes expressed by every single cell and their position associated with their neighbours3. The procedure was collaborated with microscope imaging data from Hodgkin lymphoma biopsies from Newcastle University.
The evaluation of single-cell data showed that cancer cells were encircled by clusters of macrophages, monocytes and cDC2 dendritic cells, which all play a role on the immunity. Imaging data indicated that these cells expressed molecules that blocked their anti-tumor abilities.
“This study is a great example of how much information we can get out of one tissue sample. By combining single-cell, spatial transcriptome and histological data, we were able to learn how precisely Hodgkin lymphoma manages to evade immune response. You could think of this approach as a sort of roadmap for molecular pathology, which could be applied to other diseases as well,” said Dr Ben Stewart of the Wellcome Sanger Institute.
Researchers further observed 2 distinct ‘microenvironments’ around cancer cells providing indications the level of success the traditional treatments would bring about. The elevated concentrations of immune cell clusters surrounding cancer cells were able to give future insights on treatment failures, whereas a microenvironment indicating elevated concentrations of stromal cells was linked with the working of the treatment. As stromal cells show that tissue has been repaired on prior occasions, There was a possibility that the immune system had already been partially successful in suppressing the disease, with the treatment giving assistance to wipe out the cancer entirely.
Cellular messaging utilized by the cancer cells to manipulate immune cells gives it further possibilities as a drug target. Obstructing this signaling can in theory permit the immune system to respond as it is meant to, and attack the cancer cells according to researchers.
