A team of scientists in the U.K. have discovered a part of our immune system that can kill cancer.
It’s a newly discovered part of our immune system that can be harnessed to kill prostate, breast, lung and other cancers in lab tests, scientists say.
The team of scientists from Cardiff University, in Wales, say the method has not been tested in patients but their discovery has “enormous potential”.
The research, published in Nature Immunology, describes a T-cell discovered inside people’s blood which is an immune cell that can scan the body to assess any threat that needs to be eliminated.
This particular cell can attack a wide range of cancers.
“There’s a chance here to treat every patient,” researcher Prof Andrew Sewell told the BBC.
“It raises the prospect of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ cancer treatment, a single type of T-cell that could be capable of destroying many different types of cancers across the population.”
‘Universal’ cancer treatment
The T-cell could be used to find and kill lung, skin, blood, colon, breast, bone, prostate, ovarian, kidney and cervical cancer cells while leaving healthy tissue alone.
The tests have only been carried out on animals and in cells in laboratories; more safety checks would be needed before it could be carried out in humans, but researchers say their T-cell receptor could lead to a “universal” cancer treatment, the BBC reports.
Despite this research being in its very early stages it still offers a beacon of hope to us all. Please share to pay tribute to all the scientists who are working to make the world a better place.
