• Question: why cant the white blood cells recognize the cancer cells?

    Asked by jinxstr to Mario, Jasmine, Helen, Dr D, Alexis on 25 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Alexis Barr

      Alexis Barr answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      This is an excellent question! Cancer cells start out as normal, healthy cells in your body. The thing that distinguishes them is that they pick up several mutations in their DNA which can change the way they reproduce causing them to reproduce out of control. Therefore, to your white blood cells – cancer cells don’t look “foreign” (like bacteria do), they look like normal cells. That’s why cancer can be so dangerous and go undetected for a long time – it’s hidden from your immune system.

    • Photo: Jasmine Penny

      Jasmine Penny answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      Alexis is right! Cancer cells are healthy cells that have gone wrong. Our bodies recognise cells that don’t belong such as bacteria but it is much more difficult for them to recognise and respond to a cell that is supposed to be there but has started misbehaving.

    • Photo: Andrew Devitt

      Andrew Devitt answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      Cancer cells are pretty difficult to detect because they look so normal and healthy. BUT we do have cells of the immune system that can help to fight tumours. They can detect some small changes in them and they can see that the cells are ‘not normal’. They can then attack the cells and pop them. These cells are called Natural Killer cells. The trouble is that cancer cells change and they can soon become undetectable. I suppose we don’t know how good the NK cells are at beating cancer as we only know when they fail!

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