Weeding Out Cancer Cells

The battle against cancer continues. And here's heartening news from a National Cancer Institute study.

Genetic engineers now can arm normal white blood cells with tools that let them weed out cancer cells and shrink large tumors.

Researchers in a National Cancer Institute study had success using the technique to treat skin cancer in two men.

"These results represent the first time gene therapy has been used successfully to treat cancer," said NIH director Elias A. Zerhouni, MD, in a news release.

"We hope it will be applicable not only to melanoma, but also for a broad range of common cancers." [Read more..]