Targeting and killing the non-malignant cells that surround and support a cancer can stop tumor growth in mice, reports a research team based at the University of Chicago Medical Center in Cancer Research. The discovery offers a new approach to treating cancers that are resistant to standard therapy. Many solid tumors develop elaborate mechanisms to prevent recognition and elimination by the immune system. Due to their genetic instability they often discard the tumor antigen-presenting cell-surface structures that alert the immune system that these cells are harmful. Without these "flags," the white blood cells fail to recognize and kill infected or cancerous cells. These tumors then often grow rapidly and resist treatment with chemotherapy or efforts to boost the immune system’s response to the tumor.

Published in Drug Discovery & Development magazine: Vol. 11, No. 3, March, 2008, p.16.