Cancer cure natural skin

SCIENTISTS have made a major breakthrough in the battle against skin cancer by discovering a way to reactivate the body's own defence system against the disease.

Researchers have found a way to switch on the natural process that can stop cancerous tumours from growing.

They say the discovery could have implications for the thousands of cases diagnosed every year, and could point the way to a completely new approach to treatment.

Although the research has concentrated on aggressive skin cancers, it could lead to treatment for breast, prostate and pancreatic cancers, which between them kill almost 30,000 people a year in Britain.

The study, published today in the Cancer Research journal, says the body has a natural process called senescence that should shut down the affected cells to prevent the disease from spreading. With some cancers, however, this process does not kick in.

Now the team of Marie Curie Cancer Care doctors have found a way of starting senescence.

The group, led by Dr Colin Goding, found that a faulty gene in these cancers, called Tbx2, means the senescence system is bypassed. By blocking the gene, the system starts working, preventing the tumour from growing.

There are 7,300 cases of skin cancer diagnosed each year and it kills 1,600 people annually.

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