Apr 1, 2021
Scientists have discovered that the immune system can find bacteria residing within cancer cells and use them to provoke an immune reaction against a tumor.
By Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel21c
The immune system can find bacteria residing within cancer cells and harness them to provoke an immune reaction against the tumor, according to a study published in
Nature.
An international research team, led by researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, says this discovery may explain why the gut microbiome is known to affect the success of immunotherapy treatments for cancer.
Immunotherapy has dramatically improved recovery rates from certain cancers, particularly malignant melanoma, but still work in only about 40 percent of the cases.