Understanding the role of gamma delta T cells in triple negative breast cancer

Triple negative breast cancer can be harder to treat than other types of breast cancer. There’s lots of research into targeted immunotherapy treatments that help the immune system find and destroy cancer cells. But sometimes these treatments don’t work as effectively as we’d like. So we need to find ways to make them work better against triple negative breast cancer. 

Immunotherapy has changed how some cancers are treated. But it’s had limited success in treating breast cancer. Yin and his team hope that by exploring a unique type of T cell, called a gamma delta T cell, they’ll unlock new ways to treat triple negative breast cancer.

Scientists don’t yet understand gamma delta T cells well because there aren’t many in the body. What we do know is that they’re able to kill cancer cells in the lab. And we know that their presence in tumours, including breast tumours, is linked to the disease responding better to treatment.

Yin’s team have 2 key focusses for their research:

1. Understanding how gamma delta T cells find and kill with triple negative breast cancer 
   
   Previously, Yin and his team developed new techniques to study gamma delta T cells in the lab. Now, they’re using these techniques to understand how these cells interact with triple negative breast cancer. 
   
   The researchers are collecting breast cancer samples from people affected by the disease and also growing breast cancer cells in the lab. They want to study in detail how the gamma delta T cells can recognise and kill these breast cancer cells.
   
   
   
2. Understanding how triple negative breast cancer can hide from the immune cells that kill breast cancer
   
   They also want to understand how the triple negative breast cancer cells can hide from gamma delta T cells and other T cells in the body to avoid being killed. This is currently a major roadblock in getting immunotherapy to work against many cancers, including triple negative breast cancer. 

Unlocking the power of gamma delta T cells could lead to new and more effective treatments for breast cancer. There are fewer treatment choices for people diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, and the disease can become resistant to current available treatments.

Importantly, immunotherapies using other T cells in cancers like melanoma have been able to cure even patients with metastatic disease. Yin and his team believe that gamma delta T cells may have this potential too. And this could pave the way for new treatments in the future.

Over 8,250 people are diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in the UK every year. That’s 15% of all breast cancer diagnoses.