Linda and Carolyn in Split Mountain
When I first
got into this business of studying, writing about, and puzzling over cancer I
had some naïve ideas (and still do, I’m sure).
For one thing, I was satisfied with the notion that our immune system gives
cancer a pass, because it is “self”. I
had no idea how that occurred; that is, how a cell goes about signaling “I’m
harmless! Don’t eat me!
Well, it
turns out that – cancer cells, at least – turn this trick by displaying all
sorts of molecules on their exterior.
Our innate immune system has these big, ugly bug-eaters, called
macrophages, circulating around looking for something “foreign” to engulf and
eat. However, cancer cells (this study
involves ovarian cancer and triple-negative breast cancer) display on their
surfaces proteins (CD24, CD47) that holler out “don’t eat me!”. Some smart people at Stanford have hit on a
method to make these proteins ineffective.
Good for them!
As you might
have guessed, this is another wrinkle in the burgeoning field of immunotherapy.
Read the
article.. It’s long, but easy going and interesting.
https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2019/cd24-immunotherapy-target?cid=eb_govdel
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