Supercharging chemotherapy: how mitochondria fuel anti-tumor defense
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 5-Aug-2025 15:11 ET (5-Aug-2025 19:11 GMT/UTC)
While chemotherapy remains a cornerstone of lung cancer treatment, it often weakens the immune system it relies on for long-term control.
Researchers have discovered a way to make the immune system’s T cells significantly more effective at fighting cancer. By blocking a protein called Ant2, they were able to reprogram how these cells consume and generate energy—essentially rewiring their internal power supply. This shift makes T cells more active, resilient, and better at attacking tumors. The findings open the door to new treatments that could strengthen the body’s own immune response, offering a smarter, more targeted approach to cancer therapy.
Australian researchers have discovered a promising new strategy to suppress the growth of aggressive and hard-to-treat cancers by targeting a specialised molecular process known as ‘minor splicing’. The study from WEHI, published in EMBO Reports, shows that blocking minor splicing can markedly slow tumour growth in liver, lung and stomach cancers, while leaving healthy cells largely unharmed.