Amazing Two-in-one Cell Kills Cancer Cells, Then
Informs Immune System
A new hybrid
cell has been discovered by researchers in the United States and France
that combines two separate functions normally thought of as being
performed by two different types of cell. There are, firstly,
Natural Killer (NK) cells, whose job it is to poke fatal holes
into invasive cells carrying bacteria and viruses and other bad stuff.
Then there are "dendritic" cells, which identify
invaders and spread the word through the immune system, but don't do any
cell-killing themselves.
Now
comes a cell that does both! The implications are pretty astounding,
although much work and more study has to be done in order to put these
new cells into the regular arsenal of cancer-fighters.
In order to
better understand what this is all about, we asked Dr. Gerald Post, DVM,
a leading animal oncologist (and Sparky's own doctor, who plays a
leading part in our book). "Could you shed some light on this and
help us to better understand it?" we asked.
Here's his
reply:
"Basically
the researchers discovered a type of immune cell that serves two
functions. One function is that of a killer cell; basically
a cell that
when it discovers a foreign cell/infected cell/tumor cell within the
body secretes chemicals that kill the cell. The other function is that
of a dendritic cell, these cells process and present antigens. When a
foreign antigen (bacteria. virus, tumor, parasite, etc) is detected by
the immune system, it needs to be “processed” so that the other
immune cells in the body can more easily recognize it. Dendritic cells
are probably the most efficient type of these cells in the body. So the
amazing part of the discovery is that these previously unknown cells can
perform both functions."
So much is
happening these days in the world of cancer research! It seems to us
like we're getting exponentially closer to the day when cancer will no
longer be the major threat that it has been. Hope we're right!
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Vaccine Shows Promise For
Many Dogs With Melanoma
If you're a
regular reader of these pages, you know that we're not exactly enamored of
vaccines, the cancer-triggering dangers of which we've been writing
about for some time now. So you may be surprised to hear us wax
enthusiastic about this one - a vaccination for CANCER!
The
University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine has been working
on a vaccine for dogs with melanoma - a canine form of the human skin
cancer. They've been conducting a nationwide study, and the results so
far seem promising. We've got to admit that the idea of a vaccine that
fights cancer makes sense. This is a vaccine created directly from
canine melanoma cells, and the Wisconsin folks have been getting some
nice results.
It seems spooky
to inject cancer cells into the body. But the trick here is that the
cells have been treated so that they can't divide and thereby increase
their numbers. Reminds us of "killed virus" cells; sort of the
same idea.
To learn more about the program
contact the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine's Advancement Office at (608) 263-5152.
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