"Build your enemy a golden bridge to retreat across" is a famous piece of strategic advice from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, but a new study suggests cancer may use a similar tactic to evade the immune system.
Researchers in Prof. Idit Shachar’s lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science have discovered that an aggressive form of breast cancer appears to manipulate immune cells into constructing "molecular bridges" around the tumor. These bridges suppress the immune response, allowing the cancer to grow unchecked.
Published in Cell Reports, the study demonstrates that an antibody treatment designed to block these molecular bridges restores the immune system’s ability to mount an effective attack, significantly slowing cancer progression in mouse models.
“Our findings open the door to testing this antibody against various cancers," Prof. Shachar noted. "In the era of personalized medicine, this approach may benefit a wide range of patients because it targets the tumor's environment rather than the cancer cells directly."
* Ynet contributed to this article.