A woman with an aggressive form of breast cancer, which defied chemotherapy and spread to other organs, was cured with an experimental treatment that triggered her immune system, researchers said Monday. In the latest study, a team extracted immune cells called lymphocytes from the patient, tweaked them in the lab, then reinjected them. A person’s immune system is designed to kill invaders, including rogue, cancerous cells. But it can fail, often because it cannot recognise cancer cells containing the patient’s own DNA. Immunotherapy trains a patient’s own immune cells to recognise and fight cancer.

Source: Punch June 04, 2018 15:33 UTC