Cancer cells develop force fields around them that block the immune system from attacking. Immunotherapy works by allowing a blockade of that force field – essentially awakening the immune cells and alerting them that they should be attacking the cancer.
To illustrate how this process works, Dr. Scott Strome – who had a part in discovering a protein called PD-L1 that drastically changed how many cancers are treated – uses a Star Trek analogy. He compares the cancer cells to the Klingon ship blocking the Starship Enterprise from attacking. When the shields are down, the Enterprise (and the immune cells) are free to open fire. (Some of us get that analogy better than others!)
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Dr. Scott Strome is the chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery at University of Maryland School of Medicine. Read More
Cancer cells develop force fields around them that block the immune system from attacking. Immunotherapy works by allowing a blockade of that force field – essentially awakening the immune cells and alerting them that they should be attacking the cancer.
To illustrate how this process works, Dr. Scott Strome – who had a part in discovering a protein called PD-L1 that drastically changed how many cancers are treated – uses a Star Trek analogy. He compares the cancer cells to the Klingon ship blocking the Starship Enterprise from attacking. When the shields are down, the Enterprise (and the immune cells) are free to open fire. (Some of us get that analogy better than others!)
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