Basic Research

The Basic Question for Immunology Researchers

Why is it that one person has an immune system that readily identifies and destroys tumor cells, while someone else gets sick because their immune system fails to recognize tumor cells as invaders?

Developing Immunology Research

The human immune system is highly specific in its ability to recognize and destroy the large number of viruses and bacteria that we are routinely exposed to. It can do the same thing with most tumor cells.

When immune system cells are activated by the presence of tumor cells, they react by increasing their numbers and developing various mechanisms to destroy them. But the ability to detect and destroy tumors varies among individuals. The question is why?

The Mayo Clinic Cancer Center Immunology & Immunotherapy laboratories are at the forefront of research that is answering that question. Mayo scientists are revealing the complex mechanisms that regulate the activation of the immune system to destroy tumor cells. By investigating both positive and negative interactions of immune system cells, we are increasing our understanding of why some individuals have systems that fail to recognize tumor cells as foreign. Such studies will lead to new approaches that can prevent cancer development.

Exciting Research that Benefits Patients

The immune system is complex. It contains different types of cells that interact when the presence of tumor cells stimulates an immune response. Some cells kill tumor cells directly, while others help activate the killer cells.

We focus our research on developing innovative ways to stimulate the various components of an immune response. The goal is to devise novel treatments that stimulate the immune system to kill tumor cells in cancer patients. Some of the immune system components currently being studied in Mayo Clinic laboratories are identified in an educational video that describes how the immune system works to identify and kill tumor cells.