DOI: 10.5176/978-981-08-8669-1_SCR2011_4
Authors: E. Christina Jenny
Abstract:
The desire of my theoretical research is to instigate methods of targeting the cancer stem cells by our own immune system. The one and only cells within an organism that live long enough to accumulate the mutations which leads to cancer are the cancer stem cells. The cancer stem cells are able to resist toxic substances, such as cancer drugs. Hence, through drugs it may become impossible to eradicate the
cancer stem cells. Cancer immunotherapy is considered to be the possible approach of using our own immune system to attack cancer cells directly. The current cancer therapies are targeting the wrong cells. Unfortunately, in the majority of cancers, cancer immunotherapy has proven ineffective. There are two possibilities, cancer stem cells either suppress the ability of the immune system to respond or fail to fully activate the immune system. DNA micro arrays or "gene chips" will be used to identify genes that are active in the cancer-causing cells compared to benign tumor cells. This whole approach will reverse the mechanism of the cancer stem cell into normal stem cell & hence the cancer will be eradicated automatically. The advantages of this kind of cancer immunotherapy will increases the
durability of the anti-cancer response with no severe side effects, as the immune system can select cancer stem cells & change it to become the normal cells.
Keywords: Cancer Stem Cells; antigenadjuvant; antibody; antigen; cancer immunotherapy; immunostimulant; p53 gene; target
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