Scientists have made a new discovery that could help control the immune system to treat diseases like cancer and autoimmune disorders. They found a protein that can be targeted with drugs to either boost or slow down the activity of T cells — the immune cells that fight infections and damaged cells.
This study was done by researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the United States. The findings were published in the journal Science Immunology and shared by EurekAlert.
Using Immunity to Heal
Immunotherapy is a type of treatment that uses the body’s own defense system to fight illness. In cancer, these drugs help speed up the destruction of cancer cells. In autoimmune diseases — where the immune system attacks the body’s own healthy cells — the goal is to calm down the immune response.
Dr. Joel Pomerantz, a co-author of the study and professor of biochemistry at Johns Hopkins, explains:
“Finding new drug targets that can better control these immune therapies — making them safer and more effective — is a very promising area of research.”
What the Scientists Found
The newly discovered protein is called QRICH1. It plays a key role in a signaling pathway inside CD8+ T cells, which are powerful immune cells known for killing infected or cancerous cells.
Researchers found that QRICH1 works like a partial brake — it helps regulate how strongly T cells react. This means scientists might be able to create drugs that adjust this protein’s activity to either activate or slow down the immune system.
Why QRICH1 Is Important
In cancer treatment, boosting the activity of CD8+ T cells can help the body fight and destroy cancer cells more effectively. If scientists find a way to “release the brake” by adjusting QRICH1, these immune cells could become stronger cancer fighters.
But in autoimmune diseases or certain blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, T cells become too aggressive. In those cases, slowing down the QRICH1 protein could help calm the immune response and prevent damage to the body’s own tissues.
A Step Toward Smarter Treatments
This discovery opens the door to new types of immune-based drugs — ones that are smarter, more targeted, and potentially safer. Instead of turning the whole immune system on or off, scientists could soon have the tools to fine-tune the immune response, depending on the illness.
As the study shows, QRICH1 could become a key target for future medicines that help the immune system fight better or ease off when needed.