Researchers might have found the Holy Grail in the war
against cancer, a miracle drug that has killed every kind of cancer tumor it
has come in contact with, the New York Post reported.
The drug works by blocking a protein called CD47 that is
essentially a "do not eat" signal to the body's immune system,
according to Science
Magazine.
This protein is produced in healthy blood cells, but
researchers at Stanford University found that cancer cells produced an
inordinate amount of the protein thus tricking the immune system into not
destroying the harmful cells.
With this observation in mind, the researchers built an
antibody that blocked cancer's CD47 so that the body's immune system attacked
the dangerous cells.
So far, researchers have used the antibody in mice with
human breast, ovary, colon, bladder, brain, liver and prostate tumors
transplanted into them. In each of the cases the antibody forced the mice's
immune system to kill the cancer cells.
Click for more from the New York Post.
No comments:
Post a Comment