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Medical advances in one area often raise hopes for application in other conditions too. But a study into the successful anti-PD-1 cancer therapies cautions against overzealous implementation elsewhere. The treatment unleashes the immune system to fight tumours by blocking the activity of PD-1, a protein that regulates immune cells. Researchers hoped that tuberculosis patients might also benefit from having this shackle released. When they observed the response in infected rhesus macaques, they saw that the boost in some immune cells was accompanied by a decline in the activity of others key to controlling tuberculosis (blue in the infected tissue, among other immune system factors, green and pink) and an increase in bacterial presence. PD-1’s role in limiting the immune system appears to be important for keeping inflammation in check and infection at bay, suggesting the treatment should be cautiously applied elsewhere, and reminding that in medicine, one size rarely fits all.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Video from work by Keith D. Kauffman and colleagues
• T Lymphocyte Biology Section, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
• Video copyright held by the original authors, reproduced with permission
• Published in Science Immunology, January 2021