Researchers at Iowa’s public and private universities are focusing their efforts on white blood cells as they explore potential new cancer treatments.
Iowa State University and Des Moines University faculty have published research on the growth and internal operations of white blood cells, which handle the body’s immune response to infections and diseases like cancers.
Raquel Espin Palazon, ISU associate professor of genetics, development and cell biology, has studied what causes leukemia cells to halt their maturation into white blood cells, leading them to remain functionless and spread without dying, which makes people sick. At DMU, biochemistry and nutrition professor Elitsa Ananieva is studying certain white blood cells’ internal functions to better sustain them in the fight against cancer cells…