Cancer immunotherapy works by rallying T cells to attack tumors, but those cells often lose their strength over time. Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have identified a signaling molecule called MEK that may drive this exhaustion, according to a report in ScienceDaily.
The study suggests that MEK signaling can push T cells to burn out, reducing their ability to fight cancer. If scientists can block or alter that signal, T cells might keep working longer, offering a potential fix for a major limitation of immunotherapy.
This is early-stage research, and the source provides no independent confirmation beyond the MSK team's findings. Still, it points toward a concrete molecular target for making cancer treatments more durable.