New research into bowel cancer has identified ways to reactivate the immune system to help tackle the spread of the condition.
The study, by scientists at the University of Galway, looked at how colorectal cancer impacts the immune system and how this can be reversed to improve treatment.
They focused on how the body's own cells can effectively be switched back on in order to optimise immunotherapy for patients.
Bowel cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and affects over 2,500 people here every year.
There has been an increase in diagnoses in those under 50, with early onset cases almost doubling since 1990.
Immunotherapy allows medics to use the immune system to find and target cancer cells.
It has assisted treatments for melanoma and lung cancer but has, so far, shown limited benefit when it comes to colorectal or bowel cancer.
The new research first identified how the disease can switch off the immune system before looking at how the body’s cells could be reactivated to counter this.
Scientists found that the structural cells that support the growth of cancer hijack tumour fighting cells, leaving them unable to fight the disease.
This "immune brake" blocks the body’s natural response and compromises the potential of immunotherapy for bowel cancer patients.
After identifying a specific enzyme that drives this process, the researchers used drugs called sialidases, to reactivate the tumour fighting cells. In turn, this shrank tumours and prevented the spread of cancer.
Professor Aideen Ryan, of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, described the findings as a "clear breakthrough in our understanding of bowel cancer and how immunotherapy could be more successful".
She said the research had uncovered how the body’s innate ability to fight the disease could be improved and enhanced.
It is hoped the discoveries can be used to bring better outcomes to patients with the condition and those with other malignancies that have been resistant to existing immunotherapies.
Details about the study are being showcased at the Breakthrough Cancer Research exhibition, at the Stephen’s Green Centre in Dublin this week.
