-Boosting Immunity Against Cancer, New approaches for treating cancer are emerging all the time, and one exciting field is finding ways to boost anti-cancer mechanisms already present in the immune system. Now researchers in the US have discovered a new way to dramatically boost the capacity of certain immune cells to fight cancer.
"Collectively, our data suggest that metabolic lowering of Gal-1-binding N-acetyllactosamines may attenuate tumor growth by boosting antitumor immune cell levels, representing a promising approach for cancer immunotherapy."
Thus they hope their findings offer a new target for therapies that boost the immune system's existing pathways for fighting cancer.
Grants from the National Cancer Institute and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Effector cells are a part of the immune system that kills pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and tumor cells. One of their functions is to recognize their target.
cancer - Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by out-of-control cell growth. There are over 100 different types of cancer, and each is classified by the type of cell that is initially affected.
Cancer malignancy is eventually the result of tissue that uncontrollably develop and do not die. Normal tissue in the body follow an arranged course of development, split, and loss of life. Designed cellular loss of life is called apoptosis, and when this process smashes down, cancer starts to form. As opposed to regular tissue, cancer tissue do not experience programmatic loss of life and instead increase and split. This results in a huge of irregular tissue that increases out of control.
Cancer symptoms are quite varied and depend on where the cancer is located, where it has spread, and how big the tumor is. Some cancers can be felt or seen through the skin - a lump on the breast or testicle can be an indicator of cancer in those locations.
cancer - Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by out-of-control cell growth. There are over 100 different types of cancer, and each is classified by the type of cell that is initially affected.
Cancer malignancy is eventually the result of tissue that uncontrollably develop and do not die. Normal tissue in the body follow an arranged course of development, split, and loss of life. Designed cellular loss of life is called apoptosis, and when this process smashes down, cancer starts to form. As opposed to regular tissue, cancer tissue do not experience programmatic loss of life and instead increase and split. This results in a huge of irregular tissue that increases out of control.
Cancer symptoms are quite varied and depend on where the cancer is located, where it has spread, and how big the tumor is. Some cancers can be felt or seen through the skin - a lump on the breast or testicle can be an indicator of cancer in those locations.
