Common cancers evade detection by silencing parts of immune system cells

A set of genes has been identified that appear to predict which tumors can evade detection by the body's immune system, a step that may enable them to eventually target only the patients most likely to respond best to a new class of treatment. A team says it has identified genes that have been repressed through so-called epigenetic changes -- modifications that alter the way genes function without changing their DNA sequence -- which help the cells to evade the immune system. The researchers wer...