Researchers at Tel Aviv University’s Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences have identified immune cells known as neutrophils as potential targets for new drugs and diagnostic markers in advanced-stage breast cancer. The findings offer insight into how the tumor microenvironment helps fuel disease progression.
The study found that two cell types—neutrophils located near cancer cells and endothelial cells responsible for blood vessel growth—are especially prominent in advanced breast cancer tissue. Neutrophils appear to encourage tumor advancement, while endothelial cells assist in supplying blood to the cancerous area.
Carried out in the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at the Gray Faculty, the research was led by Dr. Sandra Camargo and doctoral student Ori Moskowitz under the supervision of Dr. Merav Cohen. Their work focused on how breast cancer cells and neutrophils interact in the tumor microenvironment, with the goal of uncovering how cancer manipulates immune responses to survive and spread.
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Camargo and Moskowitz described how neutrophils, rather than attacking tumors, release signals that help cancer cells invade nearby tissue and form new blood vessels. This process, they said, increases the malignancy of the disease and creates conditions that allow tumors to thrive.
Two independent experiments supported the study’s conclusions. In one study, patients with advanced breast cancer showed poorer survival rates if they had elevated molecular markers linked to neutrophil activity. In the second, mice with late-stage breast cancer experienced a substantial decline in both tumor growth and vascular development when neutrophil activity was suppressed.
The research team included additional contributors from Dr. Cohen’s lab—Maiia Levinson, Roy Balaban, Shani Gola, Alice Raizman, and Kelly Lipczyc—as well as colleagues from the Gray Faculty, including Prof. Yaron Carmi, Prof. Amir Sonnenblick, Alon Richter, Noa Keren-Khadmy, and Yael Dugach. Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science and institutions in the Netherlands also collaborated on the project.
The full study was published in Nature Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal known for featuring cutting-edge oncology research.