When we think of cancer treatment, the first thing we might think about is destroying malignant cells by, for example, using radiation treatment or chemotherapy. In recent decades, however, it has become evident that a tumor’s development depends on the communication between the cancer and the nearby noncancerous cells.

“Build your enemy a golden bridge to retreat across” is a piece of advice offered by Sun Tzu. It turns out that cancerous growths adopt this strategy in their battle against the immune system.

Researchers from Prof. Idit Shachar’s laboratory discovered that one of the more aggressive breast cancers prompts nearby immune cells to build “molecular bridges” between themselves, which causes these cells to refrain from attacking the cancer and leads to immune suppression. In an earlier study, Prof Shachar’s team even developed an antibody that blocks the bridges, slowing down the disease.

As a result of these findings, the scientists began collaborating with the City of Hope Cancer Treatment and Research Center in California.

Dr. Steven Rosen, an executive vice president at City of Hope, proposed examining samples from patients with the most aggressive type of breast tumors – triple-negative breast cancer.

“One of the reasons there is still no cure for these tumors is that their cells show no external signs that would allow us to identify and destroy them,” Prof. Shachar said. “That’s why it is especially important to find a treatment that can suppress the cancer by affecting a component of its supportive microenvironment rather than the cancer cells themselves.

We are presenting a treatment that might help a wide range of patients, since it focuses on the tumor microenvironment and not on the cancer cells themselves.”