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Healthy Breast Cells Help Kill Cancer Cells

Posted Date: April 19, 2011

Healthy epithelial cells in breast tissue secrete an anticancer protein called interleukin 25 (IL25) that instructs malignant cells to self-destruct, leaving healthy cells intact, according to new research from the US published online this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The researchers hope their discovery provides a new target for drug development.

Healthy epithelial cells in breast tissue secrete an anticancer protein called interleukin 25 (IL25) that instructs malignant cells to self-destruct, leaving healthy cells intact, according to new research from the US published online this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The researchers hope their discovery provides a new target for drug development.

Lead researcher and corresponding author, Dr Mina Bissell, a breast cancer authority at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) in California, told the media that:“We found that normal breast cells provide an innate defense mechanism against cancer by producing interleukin 25 (IL25) to actively and specifically kill breast cancer cells.”

Read more in the Journal, Science Translational Medicine