Biologists from Stanford University (USA) revealed the mechanism that makes cancer cells unrecognizable to the human immune system and established how to block it. During the experiment, five modified mice with breast cancer were fully cured, and the tumor development no longer renewed.
As experts explain, when cancer occurs, the immune system no longer recognizes the tumor cells, which in many ways are masked as healthy cells. A study conducted by a team from Stanford University in collaboration with European colleagues was another attempt to make cancer cells more vulnerable to the immune system, depriving them of the ability to hide from it.
Biologists have determined that cancer cells have the ability to attract the CD47 protein molecule. Experts have discovered that the increased number of such molecules on the membrane of cancer cells is the reason why the immune system does not identify a growing colony of cancer cells within the body.
Scientists have synthesized a special antibody due to which the immune cells receptors become responsive to protein compounds, hiding tumor cells. The effect of this antibody was tested on mice, which had a variety of tumor types – prostate cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, brain and rectum cancer. After the injection of the antibody, tumor development ceased, and the tumors decreased in size, with some completely disappearing. Five modified mice with breast cancer were cured completely.
Meanwhile, Russian scientists have also developed a method of cancer treatment. Microbiologists from the Novosibirsk State University have created several viruses to fight tumors. These viruses destroy only cancer cells, without affecting the others.
