grimtrigger86 t1_isjwdib wrote on October 16, 2022 at 3:27 PM

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

Is there a unique surface protein for breast cancer, as opposed to any other type of cancer? It seems odd that the immune system would be used to attack cell growth

GWsublime t1_isjx514 wrote on October 16, 2022 at 3:32 PM

That's what they are working on in this article and they seem to have a target. Cancer isn't cell growth its uncontrolled cell growth cause by damage to the systems that regulate that. Specific types of damage could and probably do result in specific conformal changes. Also, the immune system often does recognize and kill cancerous cells without any external input so there is definitely something to target.

grimtrigger86 t1_isjxg8y wrote on October 16, 2022 at 3:34 PM

Well yeah, I specified uncontrolled in the initial post. It's still cell growth, and referred to it as such for the sake of brevity because I already established that it's considered uncontrolled. That all being said. Any efficiency of communication went out the window with this explanatory post

GWsublime t1_isjxvns wrote on October 16, 2022 at 3:37 PM

Right but there's a significant difference. No, you can't target cell growth, that kills the human. Yes you can target uncontrolled cell growth as long as that comes along with some sort of conformational change.

TheGoodFight2015 t1_iskomy3 wrote on October 16, 2022 at 6:29 PM

Edit to clarify and include more about the immune system:

Look up T cells. They’re called cytotoxic for a reason: they kill cells that contain virus or other disease like cancer.

Our bodies also perform a technique called autophagy all the time. It literally means eating one-self, and it’s to clean up dead and defective cells, save resources, etc.