The body has natural defenses and specific treatments that can target and eliminate "bad cells," such as cancer cells.
How the Immune System Fights Bad Cells
One of the primary ways the body deals with unwanted or harmful cells is through its immune system. The immune system has specialized components designed to identify and destroy cells that are abnormal or diseased.
As highlighted in the reference:
- The immune system includes various types of white blood cells.
- A special form of white blood cells called T cells plays a crucial role.
- T cells see cancer as “foreign” cells that don't belong in the body.
- Acting on this recognition, the T cells attack and try to destroy the cancerous cells.
This process is a form of natural surveillance where the immune system constantly checks for and eliminates cells that deviate from their normal function or structure.
Other Methods
While the immune system is a natural killer of bad cells, particularly cancer cells, medical science also employs various methods to eliminate them:
- Chemotherapy: Uses drugs to kill rapidly dividing cells, a characteristic of many cancer cells.
- Radiation Therapy: Uses high-energy rays to damage and kill cancer cells.
- Surgery: Physically removes tumors containing bad cells.
- Targeted Therapies: Drugs designed to specifically target features unique to cancer cells, leaving normal cells relatively unharmed.
- Immunotherapies: Treatments that boost the body's own immune system to fight cancer more effectively, sometimes enhancing the natural ability of T cells and other immune cells to find and destroy cancer.
Ultimately, the destruction of bad cells involves recognizing them as abnormal and deploying specific mechanisms, either natural (like the immune system's T cells) or medical, to eliminate them.
