Chinese and U.S. researchers have jointly identified cells correlated with human colorectal cancer (CRC), a discovery that is expected to help with the treatment and prognosis prediction of the disease.

The research, combining clinical and basic studies, was co-conducted by the Zhejiang University School of Medicine (ZUSM) and the Department of Medicine and Department of Microbiology and Immunology of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center at the University of Louisville.

In researching CRC tumor tissue, they found Gamma Delta T17 cells promoted the accumulation and expansion of myeloid-derived suppressor cells in human CRC.

"Gamma Delta T17 cells are like a commander in a battle. When they give an assault signal, the immunosuppressive cells will rapidly accumulate, which will lead to disorder of the tumor immunity system," said Huang Jian, one of the co-authors from the ZUSM.

It was also found that the greater the number of Gamma Delta T17 cells, the more malignant the tumor will become with a worse clinical prognosis, Huang told Xinhua on Tuesday.

The findings were published on May 15 as the cover story in Immunity, a monthly journal that publishes articles and reviews on immunology.

The findings suggest that Gamma Delta T17 cells might be key players in human CRC progression and have the potential for treatment or prognosis prediction, said Wu Pin, the first author of the paper from the ZUSM.