UBC researchers discover 'instruction manual' that tells cancers how to hide from immune system

A mechanism that creates an "invisibility cloak" for certain cancer cells and allows them to hide from the immune system has been uncovered by a team of researchers at the University of British Columbia. Prof. Wilfred Jefferies and his team found that metastatic tumours (cancers that spread from primary site) can evade the immune system via a process called chromatin remodeling. The invisibility mechanism operates in malignant carcinomas that include ovarian, prostate, melanoma and cervical cancers and is particularly active in breast and lung cancers. "This discovery begins to address the mysteries of how cancer hides from the immune system and spreads – it helps explain 20 years of...

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