Lund University researchers reprogrammed cancer cells into dendritic-like cells that triggered the growth of immune-cell clusters inside tumors, the university said in a Nov. 6 release. The tumor reprogramming immunotherapy work was done in mice and published in the journal Immunity.
The clusters, called tertiary lymphoid structures, are linked to better responses to immunotherapy. The finding is preclinical, and the team that did the work also holds a stake in a company that develops the approach.
What the Lund Mouse Study Showed
The approach activated the immune system in mouse models of melanoma, colorectal, bladder, breast and pancreatic cancer, the release says. That list includes tumor types that usually resist immunotherapy. The paper is titled “Tumor-to-dendritic cell reprogramming induces immunogenic lymphoid structures across cancers.” The release gives no sample sizes or survival figures, so the result is a mechanism shown across five cancer types and not a treatment effect with a number attached.
How the Reprogramming Works
Filipe Pereira, a professor of molecular medicine at Lund University, leads the group. His team showed in a 2024 study that injecting three factors into tumors turns tumor cells into dendritic cells, which train the immune system to recognize cancer. In that earlier work, half of the treated mice went into remission. The new paper adds the clusters. “Until now, it has been complicated to induce the formation of TLSs,” Pereira said in the release.
Disclosures and Next Steps
Two authors hold equity and management positions at Asgard Therapeutics AB, which develops this approach, and they are inventors on patents. Three other authors are Asgard employees. Funders include Cancerfonden, the Swedish Research Council, the Horizon Europe EIC and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.
The researchers still need to identify which signals cause the clusters to form and persist, and how the method works alongside existing immunotherapies, the release says. It does not address human testing. The strongest part of the result is the range, five cancer types in one study. The open question is the one every mouse study leaves, which is whether any of it holds in people.
