Researchers have manipulated a type of white blood cells, called macrophages, to eliminate solid tumours by silencing their molecular pathway that prevents them from attacking our own cells.

Cancers that form solid tumours such as in the breast, brain, or skin are particularly hard to treat. Surgery is typically the first line of defence for patients fighting solid tumours.

However, surgery may not remove all cancerous cells, and leftover cells can mutate and spread throughout the body.

The new approach, described in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, not only eliminates cancerous cells, but teaches the immune system to recognise and kill them in the future.