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Calreticulin exposure increases cancer immunogenicity

Nature Biotechnology volume 25, pages 192–193 (2007)Cite this article

Some cytotoxic anticancer drugs may boost an immunogenic molecular signal of apoptosis.

Stimulating the body's natural immune response against tumors has enormous potential to improve current regimens of cancer therapy. One possible strategy for achieving this involves immunization with tumor cells that have been treated with a particular class of chemotherapeutic drugs, the anthracyclines, an approach that was recently shown to induce a specific immune response of sufficient strength to eliminate established tumors in mice1. In the January issue of Nature Medicine, Obeid et al.2 extend this result, demonstrating that anthracyclines cause tumor cells to expose on their surface a specific protein marker, calreticulin, which tags them for removal by the immune system. These observations imply that agents that trigger calreticulin exposure could be used in combination with conventional chemotherapy to unleash the latent power of the immune system.

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Figure 1: The impact of a dying cell on immune function is governed by phagocytic uptake.

Kim Caesar

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chris Clarke and Mark J. Smyth are with the Cancer Immunology Program, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, St Andrews Place, East Melbourne, Victoria 3002, Australia. chris.clarke@petermac.org or mark.smyth@petermac.org,

    Chris Clarke & Mark J Smyth

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  1. Chris Clarke
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  2. Mark J Smyth
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Clarke, C., Smyth, M. Calreticulin exposure increases cancer immunogenicity. Nat Biotechnol 25, 192–193 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0207-192

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