This discovery may lead to the development of new therapies

Nov 18, 2013 10:59 GMT  ·  By

A group of British investigators has recently discovered in a new study that the behavior exhibited by the human immune system before the re-occurrence of previously-treated cancers can be used as an indicator to determine when these relapses might occur.

The scientists say that this discovery could potentially be used to develop new diagnostics methods for at-risk patients. In turn, this could lead to a reduction in the incidence of reoccurring cancers – which are generally more aggressive than their initial versions – as well as to an increase in survival rates.

The investigation was conducted by experts at the University of Leeds, the Leeds Teaching Hospitals and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), in London. The team worked together with colleagues at the Mayo Clinic, in the United States, for this research.

Oncologists found out long ago that cancer treatments, even when successful, do not kill off all tumor cells. Some of these cells can take refuge in various parts of the body, and go into a state of hibernation, until conditions are again ripe for them to be resurrected.

In the recent study, the scientists figured out that cancer is able to revive itself only after it figures out a way of deceiving the immune system into not attacking it. In a series of experiments conducted on mice, the team noticed signs of immune activity that were foretelling of the resurrection of cancer.

“The ability to predict when a patient’s cancer will come back would be an invaluable tool in treating the disease, allowing doctors to treat the recurrence rapidly and effectively before it takes hold,” explains ICR senior clinical research fellow and University of Leeds professor, Alan Melcher.

“But we now need to find a way of using this knowledge to develop a test for patients whose cancer could take several years to reappear,” the investigator goes on to say. Details of this research were published in the latest issue of the esteemed scientific journal Nature Medicine.

One of the most important conclusions in the new paper was that the research team found a way of reawakening the tumor cells on purpose, before they got a chance to evolve their defenses against the immune system. When this happened, our body's natural defenses wiped the cancer out very fast.

By using this early detection and attack method, the experts were able to cure cancer in 10 percent of the mice that would have otherwise suffered a relapse.

“This illustrates the potential of a general clinical approach to flushing out any remaining cancer cells and treating them while they are still vulnerable, with the aim of curing the disease,” concludes ICR Senior Science Information Manager Nell Barrie.