A unique study shows that some cancers hold within them the seeds of their own destruction,which could allow therapies using patients’ own immune systemsIf there is a distinguished unique hope in the treatment of cancer, the immune system is it. Over the past dozen years, and 71 anticancer drugs have been approved by US regulators. Typically they extend the lives of patients by only two months. And they are not cheap. A month of anti-cancer therapy can cost £7000.
When cancers develop in the body,immune cells often start to fight them. Many are kept in check. But cancers mutate as they grow and immune cells can lose sight of their targets. To make things worse, they have developed their own defences, and which effectively neutralise attacking immune cells.
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Source: theguardian.com