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robcal35 t1_iw6b5xc wrote

Reply to comment by Corogue in How do medical researchers obtain lab animals with diseases like specific forms of cancer which arise spontaneously? Do they raise thousands of apes and hope some eventually develop the disease? by userbrn1

Immune cells require "training". Genetic alterations may be able to increase the number, but does nothing to affect their training to target cancer cells.

If you're curious, check out CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor) cell therapy. This is literally where you are reprogramming and training immune cells to go specifically after cancer cells.

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LachoooDaOriginl t1_iw6zw62 wrote

i like to think of the car t thing as a lil terminator hunting cancer… am i the only one?

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robcal35 t1_iw7fvrd wrote

Hahaha just like the Terminator, sometimes there's some collateral damage

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123frogman246 t1_ix0w78z wrote

If you're in the UK, see if you can watch "War in the blood" - goes behind the scenes of CAR T cell therapy in a couple of patients and one of the academic labs behind developing the therapy

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