SLU Study: Immune Dysfunction Increases Cancer Risk in Obese Populations
11/14/2024
ST. LOUIS —Researchers at Saint Louis University’s School of Medicine say T-cell dysfunction is leading to an increased risk of cancer in obese populations.
T cells are white blood cells called lymphocytes essential to your immune system in the fight against infections and cancer. Ryan Teague, Ph.D., professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at SLU, and his team are exploring why obesity impacts T-cell dysfunction and compromises immune surveillance, or the body’s ability to survey malignant cells and clear them before they become tumors.
Ryan Teague, Ph.D., left, and Alex Piening, an M.D./Ph.D. graduate student at SLU, work in the lab in Doisy Research Center on October 21, 2024. Photo by Sarah Conroy.
The study, which was led by Teague and co-authored by Alex Piening, an M.D./Ph.D. graduate student at SLU, was recently published in Nature Communications, found that T-cell dysfunction linked to obesity prevented T cells from detecting tumor cells, placing obese mice at higher risk of developing tumors when exposed to a carcinogen. Teague and his team are now trying to uncover the exact mechanism underlying the metabolic dysfunctions associated with obesity that directly impact T-cell function.
Ongoing projects in Teague’s lab at SLU are designed to identify barriers to successful cancer immunotherapy and develop strategies to overcome these barriers for improved patient outcomes. Teague and his team investigate how obesity impacts the efficacy of immunotherapies.
"Immunotherapy boosts a patient's immune system by targeting T cells and reinvigorating them. Paradoxically, immunotherapy is often more successful in patients with obesity, where the immune system isn’t functioning quite as well," Teague said. "Our research explains this paradox by showing that in the setting of obesity, developing tumors are only required to escape a weakened immune system. Such outgrown tumors are not well adapted to evade the reinvigorated T cells elicited during immunotherapy, and thus, are more easily destroyed."
Teague said single-cell RNA sequencing played a critical role in the study’s findings, which allowed scientists to learn what’s happening inside individual immune cells within tumors.
"We learned that the dysfunction in these T cells lies in their inability to kill tumors. Those genes were not being turned on. It also lies in their inability to acquire the metabolic functions needed to sustain anti-tumor activity," Teague said.
Thanks to SLU’s investment in single-cell RNA sequencing technology, the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology has leveraged this new approach to advance its work studying cancer and the immune system, bringing us closer to new cures.
Other authors include Kelly D. Pyles, Kyle S. McCommis, Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine; Emily Ebert, Carter Gottlieb, Niloufar Khojandi, Lindsey M. Kuehm, Stella G. Hoft, Richard J. DiPaolo, Ph.D., Stephen T. Ferris, Ph.D., Elise Alspach, Ph.D., Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
Latest Newslink
- SLU Joins NASA-Funded Consortium to Advance Sustainable Space Life Support SystemsSaint Louis University has joined a NASA-funded consortium to develop a closed-loop biological system that can convert human waste into useful materials for in-space biomanufacturing. The innovations will help build self-sustaining ecosystems for future space missions.
- SLU’s William L. Clay, Sr. Institute of Civic Engagement and Economic Justice Seeks to Educate, Engage, and Empower Next Generation of LeadersThe William L. Clay, Sr. Institute of Civic Engagement and Economic Justice at Saint Louis University, launched in the summer of 2025 with a legacy investment from the William L. Clay Scholarship & Research Fund, provides immersive learning experiences and hands-on training that address the social and economic challenges facing the St. Louis region and the nation.
- New SLU, SSM Study Shows Ozempic Could Help Dialysis Patients Qualify for Kidney TransplantsObesity is one of the biggest barriers preventing patients with end-stage kidney disease from receiving a life-saving kidney transplant. New research from Saint Louis University School of Medicine and SSM Health physicians reveals that breakthrough weight loss medications could change that -- giving more patients a second chance at life.
- John F. Cross, Ph.D.: 1932-2025John F. Cross, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychology, died Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. He was 93. Cross was a long-time professor at Saint Louis University as well as an alum, having earned his doctorate from SLU in 1964.
- Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship to Honor 2025 Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame InducteesThe Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University will hold its 2025 Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame induction ceremony at a dinner on Friday, Nov. 14, at the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business.
- Gorlewicz Honored With 40 Under 40 RecognitionJenna Gorlewicz, Ph.D., who holds the Eugene Kranz Professorship for Excellence in Research in the School of Science and Engineering at Saint Louis University, has been chosen as one of the St. Louis Business Journal's 40 Under 40.
