Story Summary: Cancer-causing Protein Can Also Help Fight The Tumors It Causes Oncogenes are genes that when mutated or expressed in high concentrations can cause normal cells to become cancerous. This does not happen for advanced tumors, but if we could control the movement of Ras, we would have a better understanding of how immune cells react against cancer and provide the scientific basis for an entirely new class of cancer drugs. What is certain, however, is that once t-cells acquire mutated Ras, they are able to generate clones with the ability to respond against this specific threat. When immune cells scan their targets they bind to their targets, he says. But when they acquire mutated Ras from a potential tumor, it starts a cascade. This results in the production of cytokines that help the immune system and act against the cancer. The next step is to identify other proteins that, like Ras, are able to transfer outside of their cell of origin. The more researchers learn, the more they can exploit these cells to keep the human body healthy — but Rechavi warns that not all the news may be good. It could be that a bad protein is able to transfer from cancer cells to immune cells as well, upon acquiring such protein the immune system will be less active, says Rechavi. Ras proteins tagged with green flourescence protein transfer from B (cancer) cells to NK (immune) cells. Get the latest science news with our free email newsletters, updated daily and weekly. Have any problems using the site?…Read the Full Story

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