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lorenzotinzenzo t1_isjw1lc wrote

Reply to comment by d0rito5 in The Race to Make a Vaccine for Breast Cancer by AdmiralKurita

ELI5 how exactly you teach the immune system to attack something? I mean, let's say immune system is a dog. Let's say that cancer is a cat entering the house (the body). Now, the problem is that normally the dog wouldn't attack the cat. Now, with a vaccine you are putting a stuffed cat in the house to have the dog attack it and learn that behavior. What I don't understand is how you tell the dog that the stuffed cat must be attacked.

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d0rito5 t1_isjx4nc wrote

Yes, you have to train the dog to recognize the cat as an enemy, so you take a rat and put some cat smell on it, then let it loose in the house. The dog will catch the rat and associate that smell with an intruder. Now the dog will recognize both cats and rats as threats in the future and chase both of them.

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