Now, scientists at the Salk Institute have discovered a key control mechanism on the peacekeeping cells that determine if they send a halt signal to the killer T cells. The new research, published today in Cell, could help develop treatments for autoimmune disorders as well as some types of cancer…
In their study described in the June 18 issue of Cancer Immunology Research, the Johns Hopkins team tested the vaccine in 39 people with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC), the most common form of pancreatic cancer. The disease becomes resistant to standard chemotherapies and is particularly lethal, with fewer than 5 percent of patients surviving five years after their diagnosis. PDACs do not typically trigger an immune response against the cancer cells that comprise, but with the help of a vaccine developed by Johns Hopkins researcher Elizabeth Jaffee, M.D., the scientists were able to “reprogram” tumors to include cancer-fighting immune system T cells…
source : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140618071559.htm
"We have known about some of the molecular signals that mediate this senescence response, but we’ve needed to understand the signaling pathway in much more detail," said Peiqing Sun, associate professor in TSRI’s Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. …