When cancer arises in the body, it starts with tumor cells that rapidly grow and divide and eventually spread. But what enables these nascent tumor cells to dodge the body’s immune system, which is built to identify and fend off an attack from such defective cells? The answer to this question, which long mystified scientists, may be the key to unlocking more effective cancer treatments—therapies that disable tumors’ subversive maneuvers and allow the immune system to do its job.
Study shows how certain cancers neutralize T cells to subvert the immune system and help tumors grow
When cancer arises in the body, it starts with tumor cells that rapidly grow and divide and eventually spread. But what enables these nascent tumor cells to dodge the body's immune system, which is built to identify and fend off an attack from such defective cells? The answer to this question, which long mystified scientists, may be the key to unlocking more effective cancer treatments—therapies that disable tumors' subversive maneuvers and allow the immune system to do its job.