According to scientists, they have found a way to ‘steer’ the immune system for killing cancers.
The method developed by them has been reported in Science journal. The method finds unique markings in a tumor, its ‘Achilles heel’, which can be targeted by the immune system.

However, the approach would be very costly and will require designing different approach for every individual. The technique hasn’t been tried on patients so far, the team added. As per experts, the idea is sensible, but could face a lot of complications in reality.

Researchers think their findings may form the backbone of fresh treatments. Currently, they are looking forward to test it on patients in a couple of years.

Previously, people have tried to steer the immune system for killing tumors, but cancer vaccines flopped badly. An explanation is that they have trained the body’s own defenses to attack the wrong target.

The issue is that cancers aren’t composed of identical cells. They are largely mutated, genetic mess and samples at distinct sites in a tumor, can appear and act quite differently.

The growth of cancers is comparable to a tree with core ‘trunk’ mutations, but then, mutations from that branch go in all directions. The process is called cancer heterogeneity.

Professor Charles Swanton of UCL Cancer Institute said that it is really captivating and takes personalized medicine to its absolute limit, where a patient would have a distinctive, customized treatment.

The international study has come up with a way to find out the ‘trunk’ mutations that alter antigens. Antigens are the proteins sticking out from the surface of cancer cells.

Professor Charles Swanton termed the new technique as exciting. He added, “Now we can prioritize and target tumor antigens that are present in every cell – the Achilles heel of these highly complex cancers. This is really fascinating and takes personalized medicine to its absolute limit, where each patient would have a unique, bespoke treatment”.