Dundee researchers in cancer breakthough
SCOTS scientists have made a landmark discovery that bolstering an ailing immune system - rather than correcting genetic mutations - may hold the key to preventing cancer following a major study. The Dundee University research has the potential to revolutionise the global anti-cancer effort if the findings are substantiated in further studies.
From article, (the Dundee-led study suggests that the decline in the immune system with age is a much bigger driver behind increased cancer incidence. Researchers envision it as "a war" between cancer cells and the white blood cells known as T cells which are crucial to maintaining a healthy immune system capable of fighting off disease.
Dr Sam Palmer, who initiated the research at Dundee before taking a post at Heriot Watt University, said: “The T cells are constantly scanning for cancer cells, looking to destroy them. If they can’t find them soon enough or the immune system is weak then the cancer population has the chance to grow. The chances of this happening will increase with age as the thymus [gland where T cells are produced] is shrinking all the time.
“For our model, we imagined a war between T cells and cancer cells, which the cancer cells win if they grow beyond a certain threshold. We then set this threshold to be declining with age, proportional to T cell production. This simple hypothesis turns out to be able to explain much of the cancer incidence data.”
“Nearly all of the mainstream research into cancer is based on how we can understand genetic mutations, target them and thereby cure the disease. We’re not debating the fact that mutations cause cancer, but are asking whether mutations alone can account for the rapid rise in cancer incidence with age when ageing causes other profound changes in the body.”
The thymus roughly halves in size every 16 years, with a corresponding fall in the production of T cells. The researchers found an "extremely strong correlation" between the chances of certain cancers increasing and the new T cell populations falling.
Professor Clare Blackburn, an expert in thymus biology at EdinburghUniversity, said the findings pointed to a new hope in the fight against cancer.
She said: “This suggests we should also focus on how to boost thymus function in a controlled way, perhaps by transplantation or by controlled regeneration, so we can increase the number of T cells we are making.
The study was based on data from two million cases of cancer in patients aged 18-70. Researchers developed a mathematical equation for how they would expect cancer incidence to rise in relation to a declining immune system and compared it to the age profiles for 100 different cancers.
Their model fitted the data better than the genetic mutations hypothesis. Additionally, because the immune system generally declines more slowly in women than men, they were also able to account for the gender difference in cancer incidence, something that mutations alone cannot easily explain.)
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