David D. Schlaepfer
“Our findings reveal a previously unrecognized lipid-based communication pathway between ovarian tumors and the immune system,” said senior author David D. Schlaepfer, PhD, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine and member of UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. “By inhibiting FAK, we can re-educate macrophages to promote anti-tumor immunity rather than suppress it.”
FAK-targeting drugs are already being tested in clinical trials for ovarian cancer. The new findings suggest that combining these drugs with immunotherapy and selected chemotherapy may make treatments more effective by turning the tumor environment from immune-suppressing to immune-activating. While more research and clinical trials are needed, this discovery offers hope for developing better treatments for people with ovarian cancer and possibly other cancers as well.
The study, published in Cell Reports, was led by Schlaepfer in collaboration with Kevin Tharp, PhD, at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. The research was supported, in part, by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The authors report no competing interests.
