Question: Do you really hope you can find a way to cure cancer by using our immune system?

Srinath Kasturirangan answered on 12 Mar 2019:

Hi Paige, good question! Our immune system has memory. This is why if you are vaccinated against chicken pox when you are a baby, when you come into contact with chicken pox when you are an adult, your body is able to remember and generate antibodies that can kill the bug and you do not get the disease. Similarly, with cancer, if we can get the immune system to recognize cancer cells as something that is foreign that should not be there in the body and kill it, if the cancer comes back after several years, the body remembers that these cancer cells should not be there and goes after them and kills them, thereby preventing a “relapse”. This is the main focus of my research. It has already shown to be quite successful for certain cancer patients and we are hoping to expand the treatment to all cancer patients. Not just cancer, this is also applicable for diseases such as arthritis or asthma, we can teach the bodies immune system to nip them at the bud before the patient gets the disease. Hope this answers your question!