Rewiring cancer’s protein machinery to unleash immune defence

Immunotherapies have transformed the treatment of cancer, yet many tumours remain resistant because they are able to evade immune recognition.

The team led by Pierre Close (WEL Research Institute – ULiège) has discovered that cancer cells rely on a highly precise protein-production system to remain invisible to immune attack. The researchers found that a specific tRNA modification, controlled by an enzyme known as KEOPS, plays a key role in enabling melanoma tumours to escape immune detection. When this system is disrupted in a mouse model, “cold” tumours, normally invisible to the immune system, became “hot” tumours that became infiltrated by immune cells and showed markedly reduced growth.

By revealing how tumours regulate their internal protein-production machinery to evade immune surveillance, these findings open new avenues for the development of innovative therapeutic strategies against cancer.

Reference: Dziagwa et al, Disruption of tRNA threonylation triggers RIG-I mediated anti-tumour immune response. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69964-2