Flipping the guards: scientists turn radiation's immune saboteurs into cancer fighters

Radiation treats half of all cancer patients, but it has a betrayal built in: it can summon bone-marrow cells that shield the tumour and help it spread. University of Chicago researchers traced the switch to a protein called TET2, which radiation activates to lock those cells into their tumour-protecting state. Block TET2, and the same cells transform into a newly described type that shows tumour pieces to the immune system's killer cells — in mouse models of lung, colon and skin cancer, tumours grew slower, spread less, and immunotherapy worked better. The study, in Cancer Cell, began with blood samples from 33 lung-cancer patients and ends with a drug target now being prepared for patient trials.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation