Cancer immunotherapy, a cutting-edge therapy in cancer treatment, often works by boosting a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer cells, and as of today, scientists in the field are focusing on developing novel cancer vaccines and engineering lymphocytes to bind specific proteins produced by cancer cells. In a recent research paper published in the international journal Immunity, scientists from McGill Medical School found that the body’s innate immune system can help detect the presence of cancer and limit its progression. Professor Saleh said, “Our research so far has focused on finding specific ways to stimulate adaptive or specific immunity to repel tumors, and we have found that innate immunity in the body can help investigate the presence of danger signals in the body, such as those generated by the cancer environment, to help us develop immunotherapies that can inhibit cancer development. Using mice without an innate immune system, researchers found that the spread of colorectal cancer to the liver was more aggressive in mice without an innate immune system than in mice with an intact immune system, suggesting that innate immunity could be effective in controlling the spread of cancer, and further researchers identified the sensor Nlrp3 and its effector cytokine IL-18, which can help activate natural killer cells to attack cancer. In this study, the researchers identified the properties of innate immune system receptors and the mechanisms by which specific factors regulate tumor killing, which may provide new ideas for the development of novel cancer immunotherapies in later stages, and may also help researchers to find more potential strategies to kill tumor cells.