DNA damage (red) turns on NKG2D ligands (left) that make the cells more sensitive to killing by T cells (right).

RAULET/MACMILLAN

New research from Stephan Gasser, David Raulet (University of California, Berkeley, CA), and colleagues suggests that immune cells recognize tumors based on their damaged DNA.

Immune cells have been shown to kill certain tumor cells. Unlike pathogens, however, cancer cells lack the tags that mark them as foreign and thus possibly dangerous. “What property of a tumor could the innate immune system recognize?” Raulet wondered. “Most things cancer cells do, normal cells do too.”

Raulet and colleagues turned to the DNA damage response pathway. “This is a basic cell process,” he says, “that recent evidence suggests is triggered in cancer cells.” The DNA damage response is known for inducing cell cycle arrest and, if the damage is extensive, apoptosis. Now, the group shows that...

The Rockefeller University Press
2005
The Rockefeller University Press
2005
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