Another one-size-fits-all cure for cancer?

The BBC headline certainly exudes the stench of exaggeration: “Immune discovery ‘may treat all cancer.’” 

Bold claim aside, new early-stage research from Cardiff University does offer some tantalizing findings about a T cell type that attacks and kills cancer cells — and could help further study in the development of pan-cancer immunotherapies.

Specifically, the researchers wrote in Nature Immunology that a T-cell receptor “recognized and killed most human cancer types” — while leaving noncancerous cells alone. This particular receptor interacted with MR1, a protein found on the surface of all human cells. The scientists observed that the T-cells may have been able to distinguish cancer from non-cancer by sensing the cancer metabolome.