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How do cancer cells avoid being detected by the immune system?
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Expert Answers
CancerQuest (Organization (Verified) ) - 06 / 05 / 2012
There are several ways that cancer cells avoid being detected/destroyed by the immune system.
1. Normal cells have proteins on their surface which act like tiny flag poles. They 'wave' small pieces of proteins around and cells of the immune system come over, look at the 'flags', and decide whether the cell is sick or not. If it is sick, the immune cells can trigger it to die. Cancer cells can stop making the flag pole proteins. No poles means no flags. The immune cells can not 'see' that the cells are defective.
2. Some cancer cells can produce proteins (or cause nearby cells to make them) that shut down the immune system in the area around the tumor. This is a local affect and does not reduce the ability of the patient to fight off other infections.
3. Some cancers occur in places that immune cells have a hard time getting. An example is brain cancer. It is very hard for cells, or even small molecules, from entering the brain. Even if they are in a normally accessible location, some tumors are still hard to reach because of changes that occur around the tumor.
Importantly, not all of the roles of the immune system in cancer are good ones. Inflammation is associated with the development and spread of many cancer types.
Learn more about the immune system and cancer.http://www.cancerquest.org/immune-system-introduction.html
1. Normal cells have proteins on their surface which act like tiny flag poles. They 'wave' small pieces of proteins around and cells of the immune system come over, look at the 'flags', and decide whether the cell is sick or not. If it is sick, the immune cells can trigger it to die. Cancer cells can stop making the flag pole proteins. No poles means no flags. The immune cells can not 'see' that the cells are defective.
2. Some cancer cells can produce proteins (or cause nearby cells to make them) that shut down the immune system in the area around the tumor. This is a local affect and does not reduce the ability of the patient to fight off other infections.
3. Some cancers occur in places that immune cells have a hard time getting. An example is brain cancer. It is very hard for cells, or even small molecules, from entering the brain. Even if they are in a normally accessible location, some tumors are still hard to reach because of changes that occur around the tumor.
Importantly, not all of the roles of the immune system in cancer are good ones. Inflammation is associated with the development and spread of many cancer types.
Learn more about the immune system and cancer.http://www.cancerquest.org/immune-system-introduction.html
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