Newly discovered immune cell could help kill all types of cancers: Study

A newly discovered part of the immune system can be used in the treatment of all types of cancers according to scientists.

A team of scientists from Cardiff University have discovered a way to kill all sorts of cancers in lab tests.

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During their study, the scientists came across new T-cells in the blood of people.

These cells are a type of White Blood Cell (WBC).

It is this cell that analyzes the presence of threats that need to be eliminated.

This particular cell destroys the tumour and can target and exterminate all types of cancer.

The latest discovery can lead to immunotherapy in which ''one size fits all''. 

This was previously considered impossible.

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Before this discovery, doctors have been using a treatment called CAR-T therapy in which T-cells were extracted from the patient's own body and reinjected in it.

It hunted and killed the cells which caused cancer.

But its limitation was that it only targetted a restricted number of cancers and had not been successful in case of solid tumours. 

It could not delineate between healthy tissue and tumour cells due to their similar genetic structure and thus, attacked them both.

But the newly discovered T-cell will be able to differentiate between the two.

The research has ''great potential'' according to Lucia Mori and Gennario De Libero, professors of immunology at the University of Basel in Switzerland.