Recurrence (Cancer) (definition of)

CancerWeb's Online Medical Dictionary defines recurrence as "the point when cancer cells from the primary tumour are detected following the primary treatment for the cancer" (1997).

Cancer that has been cured or eliminated in a patient nearly always has a chance of returning. The likelihood that this will happen can be predicted however based on the type of cancer, genetic markers, lifestyle issues, health background, history of exposure to known carcinogen and more.

In the case of lung cancer, analysis of T-cells provides a reasonable indication of how likely cancer recurrence may be in a given patient. A Duke University study indicates that patients who had undergone surgical treatment for early stage lung cancer are more likely to see a recurrence of the malignancy in the presents of large numbers of T-regulatory cells.

T-regulatory cells are another example of what has made the quest for a consistent and reliable immunotherapy such a challenge.

As you may be aware, cancer cells are not pathogens in the normal sense, i.e., bacterial infection or viruses. They are rather cells "native" to the body that mutate and become "immortal" (until they kill their host by damaging other organs). In the presence of a true pathogen, the function of T-cells is to stop the immune system from attacking healthy tissue.

In the case of lung cancer, the presence of T-regulatory cells continues to block the action of immune cells. Current research that attempts to train bodily defenses to attack cancer cells as they would a virus is currently focused on disabling T-regulatory cells temporarily.