New Study Sheds Light on Immune Cells in Childhood Liver Cancer

We are proud to share that our team at UMC Utrecht, led by co-first authors Danielle Krijgsman and Stephanie Schubert from the research group of Weng Chuan Peng at the Princess Máxima Center, has published a new study in Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy exploring the immune system’s role in hepatoblastoma — the most common liver cancer in children.

In a team-effort with clinicians from the Pr. Máxima Center and UMC Groningen we investigated tumor and normal tissue from children with hepatoblastoma. Our research found that these tumors are filled mostly with immune cells called macrophages, while the T cells that many modern immunotherapies rely on are very few. Hence today’s immune-based cancer drugs used in adult liver cancers, won’t work well for hepatoblastoma.

Importantly, we discovered that these macrophages carry “stop signals” that could be targeted by new medicines to help the immune system attack the tumor. This opens the door to designing safer, more effective treatments for children in the future.

Read the full open-access article here.