From the Editor-In-Chief The Immune System and Cancer (focus on Lynch Syndrome)

Cancer Today (short article)

.... Although in HNPCC (Lynch Syndrome), each mismatch mistake rarely causes a gene defect that can fuel cancer development, the sheer quantity of mismatch errors increases the chance that cancers will appear in people with the condition.......HNPCC cancers appear to be readily recognized not just as “nonself,” but as markedly different from “self.”

 

This is a stunning advance in treatment for those who have HNPCC cancer. Hopefully, immune responses for non-HNPCC cancers—the majority of cancer cases—can also be better understood. In this way, the immune system can be helped not only to recognize all cancer cells as “nonself,” but also to destroy them.