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Abdominal fluid reveals rare immune cells that may limit attacks on tumors

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Abdominal fluid reveals rare immune cells that may limit attacks on tumors

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In a study published in Science Immunology, researchers used malignant ascites—fluid that accumulates in the abdomen of some patients when cancer metastasizes to the abdominal cavity—to uncover immune programs associated with metastatic disease, including a rare population of RORC-expressing dendritic cells not previously linked to human cancer.

The research was co-led by Steven Blum, M.D. Gary Reynolds, M.D., Ph.D., Samuel Klempner, M.D., and Alexandra-Chloé Villani, Ph.D., jointly supervised the work at the Krantz Family Center for Cancer Research within the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute and the Mass General Brigham Center for Immunology & Inflammatory Diseases (CIID).

When cancers spread to the chest or abdominal cavities, fluid can accumulate around vital organs. In the abdomen, this fluid is called malignant ascites. Roughly one in 10 patients with advanced solid tumors will develop malignant ascites. Ascites can cause substantial discomfort and is associated with poor responses to chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

Ascites is especially common in patients with gastric and gastroesophageal cancers, and these patients typically survive only a few months once they develop ascites. There is a considerable need to better understand why these patients respond poorly to current treatments and to develop better therapies.

For many patients, the main option to treat ascites is to repeatedly drain liters of this fluid to relieve their symptoms and then discard that material. The research team saw an opportunity to use ascites samples as a window into the biology of advanced cancer.


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