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White Blood Cells Cure Cancer in Mice
White Blood Cells Cure Cancer in Mice
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=13691
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- White blood cells from a strain of cancer-resistant mice cured advanced cancers in ordinary laboratory mice, say researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Head researcher Zheng Cui, M.D., Ph.D., found the transplanted white blood cells did not only kill existing cancers but also protected normal mice from what should have been lethal doses of highly aggressive new cancers.
"Even highly aggressive forms of malignancy with extremely large tumors were eradicated. This is the first time that one very aggressive type of cancer has been treated successfully."
The original studies on the group of cancer-resistant mice -- reported in 2003 -- revealed cancer resistance could be inherited. The new findings reveal resistant-cell therapy can cure cancers in ordinary mice. The investigators believe their research opens the way for possible similar therapies in humans.
"The next step is to understand the exact way in which it works and perhaps eventually design such a therapy for humans" says co-investigator, Mark C. Willingham, M.D.
The cancer-resistant mice all stem from a single mouse discovered in 1999. The original group of cancer-resistant mice successfully fought off a range of virulent transplanted cancers with transplanted white blood cells. These included natural killer cells and other white blood cells called neutrophils and macrophages that are part of the body's "innate immune system." Researchers found this system forms a first line of host defense against pathogens, such as bacteria.
Investigators conclude preliminary studies show that the white blood cells also kill cancers that spring up naturally in the body’s own cells. Their activation requires no prior exposure to cancer, researchers say.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2006:103:7753-7758
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