Chinese scientists' latest achievement provides new ideas for cancer immunotherapy.

In our immune system, T cells act as a special "special forces" guarding health, responsible for conducting "security checks" on the body's cells. The T cell receptor molecules on the surface of T cells are the core "security scanners" responsible for carrying out this task. However, the "recognition sensitivity" of natural TCR molecules is limited, and some cunning cancer cells may escape detection. To address this problem, Zhao Xiang's research team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Center for Molecular Cell Science Innovation, in collaboration with partners, has developed a "histidine scanning method" that can quickly identify the "key sites" in TCR molecules responsible for recognizing cancer cells and initiating clearance programs. After upgrading these sites, TCR molecules transform into highly sensitive enhanced versions of "security scanners", significantly enhancing T cell's ability to eliminate cancer cells. This strategy has shown promising anti-cancer effects in mouse experiments and the related research results were published in the international academic journal "Cell" on February 19. This method does not require information on the three-dimensional structure of TCR molecules. By simply modifying multiple "key buttons" that have been screened, the ability of TCR molecules to "capture" cancer cells can be enhanced, thus turning T cells into super-efficient "super guardians". The modified T cells exhibit higher activation levels, stronger killing abilities, and can accurately distinguish between friend and foe, avoiding harming healthy cells. Currently, this research has shown significant efficacy in animal models, providing a new direction for the development of a new generation of efficient and precise cancer immunotherapy.