Got you attention? This paper's title got mine this morning:
Targeting Do Not Eat Me Signal CD47 in Cancer Immunotherapy [2019)
It's quite technical, but I was curious about
the term. A search for "do not eat me signal" turned up this news article:
New ‘don’t eat me’ signal may provide basis for cancer therapies (2019)
"Cancer cells are known to protect themselves using proteins that tell immune cells not to attack them. Stanford researchers have discovered a new “don’t eat me” signal, and blocking it may make cancer cells vulnerable to attack by the immune system.
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered a new signal that cancers seem to use to evade detection and destruction by the immune system.
The scientists have shown that blocking this signal in mice implanted with human cancers allows immune cells to attack the cancers. Blocking other “don’t eat me” signals has become the basis for other possible anti-cancer therapies.
Normally, immune cells called macrophages will detect cancer cells, then engulf and devour them. In recent years, researchers have discovered that proteins on the cell surface can tell macrophages not to eat and destroy them. This can be useful to help normal cells keep the immune system from attacking them, but cancer cells use these “don’t eat me” signals to hide from the immune system.
..." I was of course familiar with the concept of cancer cells' ability to evade the immune system, but I wasn't aware that this straightforward, unvarnished term had been assigned to the effect these surface proteins have
Djin
Post Edited (DjinTonic) : 3/6/2020 6:55:25 AM (GMT-7)