Pillar 1 - FTO (new thread), page-2590

Interesting paper Boffin99! Hard to believe it’s nearly 40 years old. I’m no expert at immunology but it’s reasonable to speculate this is an immunomodulatory effect. However, the details are complicated as macrophages can have both positive and negative roles in tumour immune clearance/tolerance. Tumour associated macrophages express both receptor and ligand in the PD1-PDL1 immune checkpoint and can reduce the visibility of associated tumours to the immune system. If these and other immune regulatory molecules are repressed/modulated by Bisantrene through FTO inhibition or other mechanisms, then this could have an important impact on the function of these cells in the tumour immune ecosystem. While this is all speculation, it shows again that in the fight against cancer we need to consider multiple dimensions of host-tumour interactions including surrounding tissues (or stroma) such as the immune system and the natural variation between individuals that can alter the balance in favour of a complete response without damaging other tissue, such as heart muscle. Understanding the nuance of the many facets of this biology could be the key to fully exploiting and differentiating the drug’s utility.