Oxford – An all-Italian team has identified a new subtype of immune cells which, infiltrating tumors that attack lungs, “forget” their mission to protect the human body and instead support the cancer’s growth and neoplastic progression. These cells have been called TINK and belong to the Lymphocyte Natural Killer (NKS). The research team discovered that tumors and their microenvironment are able to re-program, or reset, these NK cells so as to facilitate their own growth and progression through the induction of angiogenesis. The research was guided by Douglas Noonan and Adriana Albini for the IRCCS MultiMedica. The study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), the most cited international journal of medical oncology, published by Oxford University Press. (9Colonne)
