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Immunology

Channelling potassium to fight cancer

Nature volume 537, pages 497–499 (2016)Cite this article

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Potassium released from dying tumour cells has now been found to suppress the activity of T cells of the immune system. Enhancing the removal of potassium from T cells restores their ability to attack cancer. See Letter p.539

Immune cells known as T cells are potent weapons in our bodies' fight to control the emergence and growth of tumours. Exciting advances over the past decade have led to therapies that harness this powerful antitumour activity and combat a wide range of cancers. Such treatments include the transfer of T cells into patients to target tumours by recognizing molecules called tumour antigens1, as well as drugs that block inhibitory receptor proteins (for example, CTLA-4 and PD-1), which prevent T cells from launching an antitumour response1,2. A remaining challenge is to unleash the full power of the immune response by enabling T cells to overcome the immunosuppressive effects of the tumour microenvironment. On page 539, Eil et al.3 identify a crucial 'ionic checkpoint' that suppresses T-cell function within tumours.

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Figure 1: Intracellular potassium levels and T-cell function.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. K. George Chandy is in the Molecular Physiology Laboratory, Infection and Immunity Theme, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, 636921 Singapore.,

    K. George Chandy

  2. Raymond S. Norton is in Medicinal Chemistry, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville 3052, Australia.,

    Raymond S. Norton

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  1. K. George Chandy
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  2. Raymond S. Norton
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Correspondence to K. George Chandy or Raymond S. Norton.

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K.G.C. declares competing financial interests. See online article for details.

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Chandy, K., Norton, R. Channelling potassium to fight cancer. Nature 537, 497–499 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19467

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