The body releases antibodies, similar to an allergic reaction, as a way of responding to cancer causing damage, according to new findings.
Cancer Research UK scientists found that the body responds to carcinogens and to allergies in a similar way.
Writing in the journal Science, which was published yesterday, scientists describe how the cells that line the body’s surfaces, known as epithelial cells, are exposed to potentially cancer causing damage every day, such as the effects of UV light and tobacco smoke.
Researchers at King’s College London and Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute found, when examining the effect this can have on mouse skin cells, that damaged cells display a stress molecule that activates neighbouring immune cells to destroy them.
They also discovered that this activates another response that involves the body’s whole immune system, which is similar to the allergic response.
It was discovered that the stress molecules also trigger a separate part of the body’s defence system to produce large amounts of antibodies.
It is believed the body uses them to recognise and flag the toxins that have caused the damage and eliminate them before they affect the rest of the body.
This combination allows the immune system to respond to developing tumours on the body’s surface and begin allergic-type reactions to protect the rest of the body.
Professor Adrian Hayday, based both at Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute and King’s College London, said: “Our study suggests new and simple ways for monitoring a patient’s anti-tumour responses during treatment, allowing us to see if chemotherapy, for example, is helping or hindering the body’s own response to tumours.”
Dr Julie Sharp, senior science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said the research showed that the body can react quickly to eliminate potentially cancerous cells.
“Understanding how this works could pave the way to more effective treatments that use the body’s immune system to track down and destroy cancer cells,” she added.
The intraepithelial T cell response to NKG2D-ligands links lymphoid stress surveillance to atopy. Strid, J., et al Science December 1 2011
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