Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
News and Views
Nature 450, 803-804 (6 December 2007) | doi:10.1038/nature06363; Published online 18 November 2007
Open Innovation Challenges
-
Protect Enzyme from In Planta Degradation
A proposal for stable expression of an enzyme in corn seed is desired.
-
Efficient Chromosome Doubling: Plant Cell Division
The Seeker is looking for an efficient chromosome doubling method in plants and in particular, metho...
nature jobs
Team Leader for Analytical Development
- Novo Nordisk
- Bagsværd, Denmark
Sensory Scientist
- Philip Morris International (PMI)
- Neuchatel, Switzerland
Cancer: Immune pact with the enemy
Cornelis J. M. Melief1
Abstract
Progress comes from the latest investigations into a long-standing question in immunology — the role of the immune system in maintaining small, potentially cancerous lesions in a state of dormancy.
The current belief about treating cancer is that tumour cells need to be eradicated as quickly as possible, so as to halt tumour growth and spread, and to prevent or delay the death of the patient. The startling results of Koebel et al.1 (page 903 of this issue) demonstrate that considering cancer as a fatal disease is not always appropriate*.
- Cornelis J. M. Melief is in the Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, PO Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands.
Email: c.melief@lumc.nl
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).

