"The problem with cancer is that it becomes part of what the immune system identifies as 'self' and there are ways the body learns to tolerate 'self' to prevent immune attack," said the study's senior investigator, Professor Linda Sherman of the Scripps Research Institute's department of immunology. "What is needed is effective and non-toxic immunotherapy for cancer patients, and we believe this work provides a foundation for that. The concepts we have shown are directly translatable to human therapy."

The study that also included Scripps researchers Gregory Verdeil and Kristi Marquardt is reported in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.