|
|
Article: Lab-Made Molecule Can Help T-Cells Kill Cancer Cells
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 1, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
|
A novel approach to the fabled "magic bullet" has been invented
and has proven itself unusually effective at killing cancer cells in
a test tube, medical researchers reported in last week's Science.
A magic bullet-a term coined by Paul Ehrlich, the German medical
pioneer who died in 1915-is an ideal, and perhaps impossible, drug or
other therapeutic agent that goes straight to its target in the body,
sparing healthy tissues.
The bullet in this case is the "killer T cell," a class of normal
immune-system cells that drift in the blood and can detect and kill
cancer cells. Killer cells produce enzymes that eat holes in the
cancer cells' membranes, causing them to leak to death.
Many cancer ...