When the immune system recognises contrites cancer cells as a threat it switches on an attack ramp.
New research from the ICS Cancer Unit at King’s College Dublin, published in Nature Nanotechnology, suggests that these immune cells are not the only agent in the tumour environment and might also be a good target for immunotherapies, the future of cancer treatment in the 21st century.
Research showed that in certain genetic cancers along the spectrum of malignancy, T cells which normally fight off invading pathogens burst into the tumour as a biofilm and can respond by triggering an immune response, using DNA as medication to change tumour cells to become anti-tumour cells.
The discovery is a significant step forward for doctors involved in immunotherapy research.
Here so far, it has been assumed that the tumour immune response that causes the symptoms of a disease is the same immune response that triggers an overactive immune system in red blood cells.
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