StemCell Therapy

Until now, immunotherapy has relied on revving up just one arm of the immune system against tumors. But scientists reported Thursday that in animal experiments, they trained a different arm to beat back cancer, pointing to a new potential treatment pathway.

Existing cancer immunotherapies exploit the adaptive immune system. That is also what vaccines, like those being developed against Covid-19, target, by introducing a piece of a viral or bacterial invader to the adaptive system so it learns to fight that specific microbe. In contrast, the innate immune system the one we are born with recognizes pathogens and patterns of damage in a more general way. It was once thought to be fixed, but over the last several years, the innate system has revealed itself to be teachable, too.

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Training the innate immune system to thwart cancer could aid therapy - STAT

This entry was posted on October 30, 2020 at 11:58 am and is filed under Immune System. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |