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Scrambled DNA inside tumours might hinder cancer immunotherapy

Anne Li                                2/3/17

 

Cancer treatments that harness the power of the immune system might be less effective in patients whose tumours carry incorrectly packaged DNA, according to US scientists. The finding, published in the journal Science, might one day be used to help doctors decide which patients are most likely to benefit from immunotherapies. Our immune system protects us against a range of diseases, but cancers can often avoid detection and destruction. The new study suggests that errors in the quantity of DNA and how it’s packaged inside cancer cells – called aneuploidy – might affect the immune system’s ability to destroy the cells. “These findings strongly suggest that aneuploidy helps tumours evade detection by the immune system,” said Professor Charles Swanton, from the Francis Crick Institute in London, part-funded by Cancer Research UK.

 

See original article at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-us/cancer-news/news-report/2017-01-20-scrambled-dna-inside-tumours-might-hinder-cancer-immunotherapy

 

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