Chemotherapy works in an unexpected way
Thursday, April 4, 2013 - 20:30
in Health & Medicine
New research shows that effective chemotherapies actually work by mobilizing the body's own immune cells to fight cancer. Researchers found that chemo-treated dying tumors secrete a factor that attracts certain immune cells, which then ingest tumor proteins and present them on their surfaces as alert signals that an invader is present. This new understanding of how chemotherapy works with our immune systems could prompt new tactics for treating cancer.