What Is the H86 Cancer Cure?
The H86 cancer cure is an anti-CD47 antibody that allows the immune system to target cancerous cells. CD47 is a protein that protects cells against the immune system by signalling that it shouldn’t target them, Medical Daily states. As it’s present on multiple forms of cancer cells, creating an antibody that blocks it could assist the immune system in targeting the disease.
CD47 is a signalling protein present on all cancer cells, according to Stanford University. It signals to nearby macrophages and immune cells that they shouldn’t target cancerous cells, which in turn prevents the immune system from destroying them and allows them to proliferate. Stanford University’s research aims to establish whether blocking CD47 signals could allow nearby macrophages to destroy cancerous cells.
After researching the efficacy of drugs that block CD47 on mice and tumors in Petri dishes, Stanford University found that macrophages are more likely to target them. In contrast, macrophages ignore cancer cells that are present without the drug that blocks CD47 signals. Mice receiving the drug during the early phases of cancer didn’t experience metastasize, and their tumors didn’t spread to nearby lymph nodes.
Using this drug in the form of a vaccine could encourage the immune system to target cancerous cells using macrophages and T cells, Stanford University claims. As T cells can adapt to a particular cancer, blocking CD47 could allow the immune system to create a personalized attack against the form present in a person’s body.
