Injected Cells Cure Tumors in Mice

The big question is whether Cui's discovery could ultimately lead to human treatments.

Preliminary tests hint at the possibility.

Cui's team developed a test-tube assay to determine whether mice were immune without injecting them with tumor cells. In the test, white blood cells from the animal are mixed with tumor cells. If the animal is immune, the white cells surround the tumor cells in a characteristic rosette pattern.

Cui said the team had tested cells from humans in the same fashion and had observed the same phenomenon.

"Some people never get cancer," said Young of the National Cancer Institute. "That may mean they have an active gene and are inherently more resistant to cancer. That is not at all inconceivable."

The approach used in mice would most likely not be applicable in humans, Willingham said. The need to match cell types to avoid rejection would make using living cells extremely difficult, and there would also be the issue of viruses and other potential contaminants.

But if scientists can understand the mechanism, he added, they can manipulate it with drugs to spark a similar immune response in the patient's own cells.

Despite the obvious promise of the approach, Young urged caution.

"People have been killing tumors in mice for 30 years, and only some of those techniques have led to human therapy.... Because they don't know anything about the gene yet, the application to human therapy remains a big question mark."