How immune cells are activated to attack melanoma

Meet the scientist

Besides science, Dr Grinberg-Bleyer is also a huge fan of cinema, particularly Martin Scorsese movies. Sports-wise, he loves to watch a football game whenever he can and he likes to ski in the Alps, which are close to his home town of Lyon, France.

The science

T cells are immune cells which can target and kill cancer cells, but they are often suppressed by molecules produced by the tumour. Checkpoint inhibitors are a type of immunotherapy which can “reactivate” T cells to attack cancer cells, and these drugs have shown to be effective in the treatment of cancer. However, not much is known about the precise mechanism of these drugs, and they currently only work for a minority of patients.

NF-κB is a protein which research has suggested plays a central role in mobilising T cells against cancer when patients are treated with checkpoint inhibitors. Dr Yenkel Grinberg-Bleyer wants to study this protein in more detail to unpick precisely how it controls T cells to block cancer cell growth. Using novel laboratory methods developed by his team, the researchers will work out how NF-κB influences the biology of T cells and how it switches T cells into cancer-killing mode. They will then validate their findings in samples from melanoma patients to see if there is any link between their discoveries, clinical outcomes, and response to checkpoint inhibitors.