WASHINGTON – Scientists could one day use a patient’s own skin to fight cancer.

Oxford University researchers have changed skin cells into immune cells, which can then be trained to attack cancer cells. So far it’s only been done in the lab.

The BBC reports harnessing the human immune system is a fertile field in the hunt for cancer vaccines.

This study, published in the journal Gene Therapy, was focused on dendritic cells, which organize part of the immune system’s response.

The study describes how researchers used advances in stem cell technology to make new dendritic cells from a patient’s skin.

The the new cells were made to trigger an attack on melanomas using a marker unique to that specific cancer.

Any treatment is probably a long way off, since it’s difficult and dangerous to produce the stem cells and the treatment would be very expensive.

WTOP’s Evan Haning contributed to this report. Follow WTOP on Twitter.

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