New cancer therapies harness the immune system to fight tumors. One of the main principles behind these therapies is to find out precisely which molecules on cancer cells trigger an immune response. A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry has for the first time identified suitable protein structures directly from patients` tumor cells. The procedure therefore opens up new possibilities for individualized targeted cancer treatments.
Through evolution, the immune system has developed sophisticated mechanisms for fighting illnesses associated with viruses and tumors. T’cells play an important role in this setting. They can identify small protein structures, known as peptides, on cells. ...
