In a paradigm breaking study, Dr. Pavan Reddy, director of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and his team, in collaboration with Drs. Arul Chinnaiyan, S P Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology, and Marcin Cieslik, assistant professor of pathology, both from University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, discovered a novel way the immune system, specifically T-cells, attack their target cells, reshaping long-held assumptions in immunology and demonstrating direct implications for the field of cancer immunology and bone marrow transplantation. The study appeared in Nature Immunology.
The immune system relies on molecules called major histocompatibility complexes (MHC) to detect external ‘threats’ to the body, including from cancerous or foreign (allogeneic)…