Fighting cancer with the power of immunity.

• Position: Biological Engineering - Brief article

Harnessing the body's own immune system to destroy tumors is a tantalizing prospect that has yet to realize its full potential. However, an advance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, may bring this strategy, known as cancer immunotherapy, closer to becoming reality.

In their study, researchers used a combination of four different therapies to activate both of the immune system's two branches, producing a coordinated attack. 'We have shown that, with the right combination of signals, the endogenous immune system can routinely overcome large immunosuppressive tumors, which was an unanswered question," says Darrell Irvine, professor of biological engineering and of materials science and engineering, and a member of the Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.

This approach, which could be used to target many different types of cancer, also allows the immune system to "remember" the target and destroy new cancer cells that appear after the original treatment.

Tumor cells often secrete chemicals that suppress the immune system...