Cancer researchers find "danger" receptor

Cancer Research UK, a charity funded by private donations, has published a report that claims to have found the first biological receptor that  alerts the immune system to abnormal cell death, in the journal Nature.

It has been thought that this type of cell death could kick-start an  immune response because an injury could be accompanied by an infection.  In addition, some tumors could trigger this type of reaction, because  they often have clusters of cells undergoing abnormal cell death at  their core as they feed off a limited blood supply. The receptor, called  DNGR-1, is found on dendritic cells, messengers that instruct T cells to  attack foreign invaders.

Caetano Reis e Sousa, lead author of the study, said: "the detection of  'danger' could explain some situations when a tumor triggers an immune  reaction against itself."