Immune System Boost 'Fights Cancer'

BBC
A way of firing up the body's immune system in order to attack cancer
has been discovered by US researchers.
The immune system is delicately balanced so it attacks invaders but
not the body's own tissues, reports the BBC.
Animal studies suggested that shifting the balance could open up new
treatments for cancer, the team from the Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia said.
The findings were published in Nature Medicine.
There are many diseases caused by the immune system turning on the
body's own tissues - such as type 1 diabetes or multiple sclerosis.
One popular area of research in both cancer and autoimmune diseases
has been Treg cells.
They are a part of the immune system which normally calm everything
down to prevent the immune system attacking the body.
The researchers were trying to disrupt Treg's function - effectively
taking the brakes off the immune system - so it would attack cancer.
One of the researchers, Dr Wayne Hancock, said: "We needed to find a
way to reduce Treg function in a way that permits antitumor activity
without allowing autoimmune reactions."
The researchers bred mice which lacked a chemical needed for Tregs to
work effectively. They then used a drug which produced the same effect
in normal mice.
In both experiments, the shift in the immune system restricted the
growth of a type of lung cancer.
"It really moves the field along towards a potentially major, new cancer
immunotherapy," Dr Hancock said.
However, this is still a long way from any treatment for patients with
cancer. Further tests will be needed to see if the same processes can
be manipulated in the human immune system before it could even be
tested in clinical trials.
Dr Emma Smith, from Cancer Research UK, said: "Turning the power of
our immune system against cancer is a promising field of research and
something scientists around the world, including our own, are studying.
"These findings go another step towards developing new treatments
that act in this way, but the research is still at an early stage and we
don't know yet whether this approach will be safe or effective in
people."