The immune system is based on a delicate balance in order to defend the body from viruses, bacteria and parasites that attack it, without however turning against it. A recent study published in the journal Nature Medicine and reported by the chain BBC News suggests that by changing this balance, new treatments to fight cancer and various autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes or multiple sclerosis, could see the light of day.
American scientists at the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia focused their research on Treg cells, which are necessary to maintain immune tolerance. By trying to disrupt the functioning of these cells, which prevent our immune system from attacking our own bodies, researchers have tried to make them attack cancer. In the mice in which the experiment was carried out, the immune system limited the growth of a lung cancer.
Dr Emma Smith, one of the study’s authors, said that “taking power over our immune system and using it to fight cancer is a promising breakthrough that scientists around the world are working on. are an important step towards the development of new treatments, but the research is still at an early stage, and we do not yet know if this approach will be effective in patients “. Indeed, other studies will be necessary to verify this work, even before considering a clinical trial in patients, adds BBC News.