Cancer cells are notorious for their insatiable hunger for sugar—so much so that they steal it from healthy cells, including the body’s own immune defenders. But now, Bar-Ilan’s medical research has uncovered a way to turn this sugar-stealing habit against cancer itself, potentially leading to more effective treatments.
Our immune system relies on T cells—specialised defender cells that attack cancer. However, these T cells need energy to function, and that energy comes from sugar. The problem? Cancer cells hoard most of the available sugar, leaving T cells weakened and unable to fight effectively.
Prof. Cyrille Cohen and his team at Bar-Ilan’s Faculty of Life Sciences have developed an innovative approach to address this problem. They modified T cells to better compete for sugar, essentially giving them an energy advantage. By mimicking cancer cells’ own sugar-stealing strategies, these upgraded T cells became stronger, more energetic, and more effective in attacking tumours.
