A study from Boston-based Mass General Cancer Center found carcinogens can increase cancer cells' susceptibility to immune attack.
For the study, published Oct. 16 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers exposed breast cancer cells from mice and lung cancer cells from humans to carcinogens. They found the cancer cells were unable to create an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, which allowed the body's immune response to reject the cancer.
The discovery could create a new pathway for increasing the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatments.