EC Microbiology

Historical Background

Cancer disease has been recognized and proven, as far in history, as 5000 years with the Egyptians. Even Hippocrates during his study of body fluids, believed that the presence of black bile in the body, was responsible for cancer. He also used the terms carcinos and carcinoma are words, which relate today in terms commonly referred to as cancer [1,12].

However today, with our greater understanding and detailed knowledge of the immune system, we can appreciate the delicate balance, between our immune system, and the various immune cells, throughout our body. We see how important that balance is, particularly when trying to understand, the metabolic pathways, mechanisms, and complexity that can be involved, when reflecting how cancer occurs, and can interact within our body. This delicate balance can be demonstrated, with the simple interplay that can occur between T regs and Teff’s.

1. Herndon JR. “The History of Cancer Discovery and Treatment”. Verywell Health C1ec (2022).
2. University of Washington School of Medicine/UW Medicine. “How regulatory T cells halt aberrant, self-reactive T cells,, Study reveals new therapeutic target to subdue autoimmune inflammation caused by loss of regulatory T cell function”. ScienceDaily (2023).
3. Harvard Medical School. “New way in which T cells learn to tell friend from foe”. ScienceDaily, Science Daily (2022).
4. University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences. “New detail on how immune cells ‘see’ and respond to mutations in cancer cells may lead to more targeted and effective immunotherapy: Study suggests immune responses could be strengthened even in patients showing no apparent clinical response”. Science Daily (2023).
5. Washington University School of Medicine. “Two-pronged immunotherapy eliminates metastatic breast cancer in mice: Suggests a new approach for treating breast cancer that have spread to bone”. Science Daily, Science Daily (2023).
6. ETH Zurich. “Achieving a better understanding of how the blood-brain barrier works”. ScienceDaily, Science Daily (2023).
7. Washington University School of Medicine. “Discovery of T cells role in Alzheimer’s related diseases, suggests new treatment strategy: Findings, in mice, open up drug development possibilities for brain diseases linked to tau protein”. Science Daily Science Daily (2023).
8. “PLOs. Modifying messenger RNA may provide a new target for Alzheimer’s disease: Complex path promotes immune cell migration and clearance of toxic protein”. Science Daily, Science Daily (2023).
9. University of California – Los Angeles. “Chemists synthesize ocean-based molecule that could fight Parkinson’s in producing lissodendoric acid A, the team used a method they say may help accelerate the process of drug discovery”. Science Daily (2023).
10. Swiss-Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA). “Parkinson’s disease Copper leads to protein aggregation, study finds: New clues to the development of Parkinson’s disease”. Science Daily, Science Daily (2022).
11. World Health Organization. “Cancer” (2022).
12. American Cancer Society. “Understanding What Cancer is: Ancient Times to Present” (2018).