Study reveals hidden immune defense against cancer.

A study conducted by researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has revealed that certain immune cells can still fight cancer even when the cancer cells lack an important protein that the immune system relies on. The absence of the protein B2M seems to activate an alternative immune response involving natural killer (NK) cells and CD4+ T cells, indicating a potential backup mechanism in the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. This finding could lead to the development of more effective combination cancer immunotherapy treatments. The study was published in the journal Cancer Immunology Research and was supported by various funding sources. [Extracted from the article]