Cancer's tireless fighters get a clue to staying in the fight longer

Immune cells sent to fight cancer often wear out — a problem called T-cell exhaustion. A UCLA team led in the lab of Antoni Ribas used a genome-wide screen to find a protein-control pathway, known as CRL5, that pushes those cells toward exhaustion; when they blocked it, engineered immune cells stayed active longer and controlled tumours better in mouse models of melanoma. A companion UCSF study in the same journal, Cancer Immunology Research, points the same way.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation