Fact 7: Role of the Immune System
Our immune system, the body’s natural defense against invaders, plays a dual role when it comes to DLBCL. On the one hand, DLBCL arises from B-cells, which are components of the immune system. On the other hand, the immune system, when appropriately activated, can be a potent force against DLBCL.
One of the hallmarks of DLBCL, like many cancers, is its ability to hide from the immune system. These cancerous cells can deploy an array of mechanisms to avoid detection, ensuring their survival and proliferation. Understanding these evasion tactics is crucial to devising therapeutic strategies.
Modern treatments increasingly look at ways to harness the power of the immune system against DLBCL. Immunotherapies, for instance, either boost the immune system’s overall function or train it to recognize and attack DLBCL cells specifically.
While DLBCL originates from rogue B-cells, other immune cells, like T-cells, play a role in the DLBCL narrative. Some novel therapies aim to modify a patient’s T-cells to recognize and attack DLBCL cells, showcasing the broader interplay of the immune system in this disease.(7)
