Great find for fight against cancer: For the first time, the mechanism that allows cancer cells to escape detection and destruction by the immune system has been identified. A group of researchers from the National Cancer Centre of Singapore. The team identified within the tumors the presence of pre-metastatic cellsable to move from the area where the cancer has arisen to other parts of the body via the lymph nodes.
Researchers have seen that a substantial portion of
CD8+ cells, a key component of the immune system that seeks out and kills abnormal cells such as cancer cells, were “depleted” and unable to fulfill their protective role. This occurs when immune cells have been repeatedly exposed to cancer and have been unable to clear it. The discovery opens the door to the development of
new strategies for cancer treatment and to the cure of even the deadliest ones, say the researchers.