Immunotherapies are some of the most promising emergent treatments for several cancers, yet there remains a majority of patients who do not benefit from them because their tumors in the body can escape the immune system. However, one way to address this disorder is to use genes that recruit T cells in autoimmune diseases and use these genes to attract T cells to kill tumors.

In a new study, researchers from Columbia University in the United States found a recruitment in mice with alopecia areata, in which the immune cells attack and destroy hair cells. The genes of T cells are turned off in a variety of cancer types, protecting them from the immune system. But if you turn this gene back on, you can make these cancers susceptible to the immune response. Related research results published in the Cell Systems Journal, July 25, 2018, the paper was titled "IKZF1 Enhances Immune Infiltrate Recruitment in Solid Tumors and Susceptibility to Immunotherapy." The author of the paper is Dr. Angela M. Christiano of Columbia University.