T cells seek out and destroy new cancerous cells with the matching protein signature, while leaving healthy cells [green] alone.
Many of these genes have been found by looking at cancerous cells.
For acquired diseases, such as cancer, gene-therapy trials are introducing genes that are intended to kill cancerous cells.
This prepares the immune system to produce fighter white blood cells, called t cells, that find and kill any new cancerous cells with proteins matching those extracted from the tumor.
In this study, researchers at the National cancer Institute, Maryland, used an antibody which targets proteins on the surface of cancerous cells.
