Scientists at the Babraham Institute say they have shown that some tumors use not one but two levels of protection against the immune system. Knocking out one level boosted the protective effects of the second and vice versa. The research demonstrates that a two-pronged approach targeting both cell types simultaneously may offer a promising route for the development of new cancer immunotherapies, according to the researchers. The study (“ Compensation between CSF1R + Macrophages and Foxp3 + Treg Cells Drives Resistance to Tumor Immunotherapy ”) appears in JCI Insight . “Redundancy and compensation provide robustness to biological systems but may contribute to therapy resistance. Both tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and Foxp3 + regulatory T (Treg) cells promote tumor progression by limiting antitumor immunity. Here we show that genetic ablation of CSF1 [ colony-stimulating factor 1] in colorectal cancer cells reduces the influx of immunosuppressive CSF1R + TAMs within ...