(Press-News.org) SACRAMENTO, Calif. — New research from UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center has uncovered an evolutionary change that may explain why certain immune cells in humans are less effective at fighting solid tumors compared to non-human primates. This insight could lead to more powerful cancer treatments.
The study was published in Nature Communications. It revealed a tiny genetic difference in an immune protein called Fas Ligand (FasL) between humans and non-human primates. This genetic mutation makes the FasL protein vulnerable to being disabled by plasmin, a tumor-associated enzyme. This vulnerability seems unique to humans and is not found in non-human primates, such as chimpanzees.
"The evolutionary mutation in FasL may have contributed to the larger brain size in humans,” said Jogender Tushir-Singh, senior author for the study and an associate professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology. “But in the context of cancer, it was an unfavorable tradeoff because the mutation gives certain tumors a way to disarm parts of our immune system.”
Tumor environment neutralizes key immune protein
FasL is an immune cell membrane protein that triggers a programmed cell death called apoptosis. Activated immune cells, including CAR-T cells made from a patient’s immune system, use apoptosis to kill cancer cells.
The UC Davis team discovered that in human genes, a single evolutionary amino acid change — serine instead of proline at position 153 — makes FasL more susceptible to being cut and inactivated by plasmin.
Plasmin is a protease enzyme that is often elevated in aggressive solid tumors like triple negative breast cancer, colon cancer and ovarian cancer.
This means that even when human immune cells are activated and ready to attack the tumor cells, one of their key death weapons — FasL — can be neutralized by the tumor environment, reducing the effectiveness of immunotherapies.
The findings may help explain why CAR-T and T-cell-based therapies can be effective in blood cancers but often fall short in solid tumors. Blood cancers often do not rely on plasmin to metastasize, whereas tumors like ovarian cancer rely heavily on plasmin to spread the cancer.
Plasmin inhibitors may enhance immunotherapy
Significantly, the study also showed that blocking plasmin or shielding FasL from cleavage can restore its cancer-killing power. That finding may open new doors for improving cancer immunotherapy.
By combining current treatments with plasmin inhibitors or specially designed antibodies that protect FasL, scientists may be able to boost immune responses in patients with solid tumors.
“Humans have a significantly higher rate of cancer than chimpanzees and other primates. There is a lot that we do not know and can still learn from primates and apply to improve human cancer immunotherapies,” said Tushir-Singh. “Regardless, this is a major step toward personalizing and enhancing immunotherapy for the plasmin-positive cancers that have been difficult to treat.”
A complete list of coauthors and funders is available in the article.
Resources
Read the study
Tushir-Singh Lab
END
A single genetic mutation may have made humans more vulnerable to cancer than chimpanzees
The change makes Fas Ligand, an immune protein, vulnerable to inactivation by metastasis in solid tumors
2025-07-03
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Innovative nanocomposite hydrogel shows promise for cartilage regeneration in osteoarthritis treatment
2025-07-03
A research team from Northwest University, China, has developed a breakthrough nano-composite hydrogel system to address the dual challenges of inflammation and cartilage damage in osteoarthritis (OA), a leading cause of joint disability worldwide. Published in Engineering, the study confirms that the dual-drug-loaded hydrogel promotes cartilage repair through synergistic immune regulation and chondrocyte differentiation, offering a novel therapeutic strategy for OA.
OA is characterized by persistent inflammation and impaired cartilage regeneration, with existing treatments failing ...
2025 Guangci Laboratory Medicine Innovation and Development Conference
2025-07-03
The 2025 Guangci Laboratory Medicine Innovation and Development Conference was successfully concluded at Shanghai Qingsongcheng Hotel during June 5-8, 2025!
With the theme of "Innovation, Guidance, and Development", this conference successfully brought together nearly 100 well-known experts and scholars at home and abroad, and carried out in-depth dialogues and collisions of ideas around the cutting-edge hotspots in the field of clinical and laboratory medicine. Through diversified academic exchanges, the conference has built a high-level technology sharing and achievement display platform for laboratory medicine ...
LabMed Discovery is included in the ICI World Journals database
2025-07-03
In May 2025, under the review of the Polish ICI World of Journals (Copernicus Index Database), LabMed Discovery magazine was officially included in the ICI World of Journals database. This marks an important step for LabMed Discovery on the international academic stage, and is also a high recognition of the journal's long-term efforts in improving academic quality and promoting academic exchanges.
ICI World of Journals is the world's third largest scientific journal database, which includes and evaluates 45,000 journals from more than 150 countries and regions. The database adopts strict review standards and conducts multi-dimensional ...
LabMed Discovery is included in the China Open Access Journal (COAJ) database
2025-07-03
After rigorous evaluation and review, LabMed Discovery was officially included in China Open Access Journal Database (COAJ) in May 2025. This progress marks that LabMed Discovery has been officially recognized in terms of academic quality, publishing standards and open access. It is also another achievement of LabMed Discovery following being selected into the ICI international database this month. This proves the improvement of LabMed Discovery's academic communication and influence, and is of great significance in furthering the speed, breadth and visibility of the journal's international dissemination. We ...
Vaccination support program reduces pneumonia-related mortality by 25 percent among the elderly
2025-07-03
A research team has evaluated the real-world impact of a community-based pneumococcal vaccination support program for older adults conducted in Sera Town, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.
Their work is published in the Journal of Epidemiology on May 5, 2025.
Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death in Japan. Each year about 74,000 people die from pneumonia with 98 percent of these deaths occurring in people aged 65 and older. The bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae is the primary cause of pneumonia.
In October 2014, Japan began a nationwide routine vaccination program for the elderly under ...
Over decades, a healthy lifestyle outperforms metformin in preventing onset of Type 2 diabetes
2025-07-02
In the early 2000s the U.S. Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a large randomized clinical trial, showed that intensive lifestyle modification was better than a medication called metformin at preventing at-risk patients from developing Type 2 diabetes.
In a newly completed follow-up study, a team of researchers including Vallabh “Raj” Shah, professor emeritus in The University of New Mexico Departments of Internal Medicine and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the School of Medicine, found that the health benefits from the lifestyle intervention persisted more than 20 years later.Molecular Biology at the School of Medicine
In a paper published in The ...
Mental health disorders, malaria, and heart disease most affected by covid pandemic
2025-07-02
Disrupted care during the covid-19 pandemic led to sharp increases in other non-covid causes of illness and death, particularly mental health disorders, malaria in young children, and stroke and heart disease in older adults, finds a study published by The BMJ today.
For example, new cases of depressive disorders rose by 23% in 5-14 year-olds and malaria deaths rose by 14% in children under five years old from 2020-2021.
The researchers say future responses to potential pandemics or other public health emergencies of international concern “must extend beyond infection control ...
Green transition will boost UK productivity
2025-07-02
The green transition will boost productivity across the UK economy, new research suggests.
Researchers analysed the impacts of the low-carbon transition in power, transport and heating.
With renewable energy now cheaper than fossil fuels in most of the world – and still getting cheaper – the findings show these three industries benefit directly from the transition.
But the far larger knock-on effect is an economy-wide productivity boost, as all businesses gain from cheaper power, transport and heating.
The research team – led by the universities of Exeter and Manchester – warn that this boost depends on cheaper ...
Billions voted in 2024, but major new report exposes cracks in global democracy
2025-07-02
A new report from the University of East Anglia has raised concerns about the state of democracy around the world during 2024’s ‘Super Cycle’ of elections.
Described by Time Magazine as the ‘Year of Elections’, 2024 saw 1.6 billion people head to the polls across 74 national elections in 62 countries - an unprecedented concentration of democratic activity in a single year.
But a global report from the Electoral Integrity Project, released today, paints a mixed and often troubling picture of how those ...
Researchers find “forever chemicals” impact the developing male brain
2025-07-02
“Forever chemicals” or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been widely used in consumer and industrial products for the better part of a century, but do not break down in the natural environment. One PFAS, perfluorohexanoic acid or PFHxA, is made up of a shorter chain of molecules and is thought to have less of an impact on human health. New research from the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester suggests otherwise, finding that early life exposure to PFHxA may increase anxiety-related behaviors and memory deficits in male ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Demographic data supporting FDA authorization of AI devices for Alzheimer disease and related dementias
How the common fungus Candida albicans colonizes the gut
How are coastal New Jersey communities communicating hazards of climate change?
AI-based breast cancer risk technology receives FDA Breakthrough Device designation
Young men with passive approach to news tend to believe medical misinformation
Announcing Zuber Lawler as a Sponsor of ARDD 2025
Is this what 2,500-year-old honey looks like?
Economic evaluation of wastewater surveillance for COVID-19 testing in long-term care settings
Announcing Deep Origin as a sponsor of ARDD 2025
Cancer cells ‘power up’ when literally pressed to the limit
Huge hidden flood bursts through the Greenland ice sheet surface
The brain shapes what we feel in real time
New study confirms post-pandemic surge in gut-brain disorders
Through the shot glass, and what can be found in liverworts
Stepping for digital rewards
Developing next-generation analytical technique for gene and cell doping and ensuring ethics and fairness in sports
Debunking a life-threatening myth: "Tongue swallowing prevention" maneuvers delay CPR and might contribute to brain injury or death for collapsed athletes
Female pilots perform better under pressure, study finds
Hydroquinone-buffered covalent organic frameworks for long-term photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide production
From coal to chemicals: Breakthrough syngas catalysis powers green industrial future
AI detects the stiffness of cancer cell exosomes: DGIST develops deep learning-based lung cancer diagnostic technology
Positive ethnic identity fosters STEM career aspirations
Wildlife show wide range of responses to human presence in U.S. national parks
Great Tits show early signs of splitting up: Oxford researchers uncover social clues to bird 'divorce'
From the lab to the hand: nanodevice brings personalized genomics closer to reality
Women politicians receive more identity-based attacks on social media than men, study finds
Idaho National Laboratory accelerates nuclear energy projects with Amazon Web Services cloud and AI technologies
Kavraki elected to European Academy of Sciences
UK teens who currently vape as likely to start smoking as their peers in the 1970s
Higher ultra processed food intake linked to increased lung cancer risk
[Press-News.org] A single genetic mutation may have made humans more vulnerable to cancer than chimpanzeesThe change makes Fas Ligand, an immune protein, vulnerable to inactivation by metastasis in solid tumors