Million-year-old viruses help fight cancer

[Retro]

Another inch forward in the fight against cancer.

Relics of ancient viruses - that have spent millions of years hiding inside human DNA - help the body fight cancer, say scientists.

The study by the Francis Crick Institute showed the dormant remnants of these old viruses are woken up when cancerous cells spiral out of control.

This unintentionally helps the immune system target and attack the tumour.

Million-year-old viruses help fight cancer, say scientists

A discovery gives experts new ideas for developing vaccines to treat or even prevent cancer.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Tiffany]

"It turned out that the antibodies are recognising remnants of what's termed endogenous retroviruses," Prof Julian Downward, an associate research director at the Francis Crick Institute, told me.

From your article, very cool discovery! It would be nice if this became a ground breaking way to treat cancer without chemo.